12 Voters Unable to Cast Ballots; NEC Plans to Distribute 5.5 Billion Won in 'Special Bonuses'

It has been confirmed that 12 voters were ultimately unable to cast their ballots at the No. 2 polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, after receiving waiting tickets during the June 3 local elections, which were marred by a shortage of ballot papers.

Cho Hyeon-uk, head of the National Election Commission (NEC) fact-finding committee, stated in a radio interview today, "These 12 individuals waited to vote but eventually left without casting their ballots," adding, "The NEC's complacent situational awareness and poor reporting system exacerbated the problem."

According to Cho, when ballot papers ran out at the Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station on the afternoon of the election, June 3, a total of 175 waiting tickets were issued to voters on-site.

While voting proceeded for those holding the tickets, 17 of the 175 tickets were never redeemed.

The NEC extended voting hours until 10:00 PM, but investigation results revealed that only 5 of the remaining ticket holders cast their votes, while the other 12 did not.

Even as circumstances continue to emerge suggesting that basic election management was inadequate not only in this election but in previous ones as well, it has been confirmed that the NEC has paid out 10.277 billion won in "special incentive payments"—a form of bonus—to employees at Grade 5 and below over the past five years.

The NEC is the only government agency that maintains regulations for these special incentive payments, which effectively function as "pocket money" for its staff.

In particular, the commission plans to expand the scope of recipients this year and distribute over 5.5 billion won. It was revealed that while the NEC initially stated only 200 million won was allocated in the national budget, it actually secured an additional 5.3 billion won from local government funds to cover the payments.

According to the enforcement decree of the National Election Commission Act, employees at Grade 5 are entitled to 150,000 won per month for up to five months before and after an election as a special incentive, while those at Grade 6 and below receive 100,000 won per month for the same period.

Despite the ballot paper shortage, the NEC maintains that it will proceed with the payments as scheduled, citing that these allowances are paid uniformly regardless of performance.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Jang Yu-jin | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.