Regarding the 'ballot paper shortage' during the June 3 local elections, circumstances have emerged suggesting that local election commissions were aware of the possibility of a shortage but failed to implement relevant guidelines.
The joint investigation team of prosecutors and police has secured a work email titled 'Notice of Precautions Regarding Ballot Management' from a search and seizure of the National Election Commission (NEC) server and is currently investigating the subsequent response process by the election commission.
At the time, immediately after early voting on May 31, the NEC sent a work notice to district and municipal committees nationwide, stating, "In voting districts with low early voter turnout, a shortage of ballot papers may occur, so it is necessary to devise response measures such as the additional distribution of unnumbered ballot papers."
The joint investigation team suspects that the local election commissions failed to properly implement the relevant guidelines even after receiving the work notice, despite having already confirmed the early voter turnout rates.
The team argues that once they confirmed low early voter turnout, they should have prepared for a ballot shortage in accordance with the work notice, but no proper preparations were made.
The view of the joint investigation team is that if the local election commissions had complied with existing guidelines and regulations, the worst-case scenario of running out of ballots on the day of the main election could have been prevented.
The joint investigation team is also continuing to investigate the circumstances behind the decision to reduce the number of printed ballots to 50 percent of the number of eligible voters.
Yesterday, the team summoned one member of the Songpa-gu Election Commission as a witness to verify whether internal concerns were raised during the process of reducing the number of ballots.
Since its launch last month, the joint investigation team has focused on reconstructing the situation at the time by questioning more than 70 people, including officials from polling stations where ballot shortages occurred and staff from local election commissions.
Once the investigations into officials from the National Election Commission and the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission are concluded, investigations into higher-level officials are expected to follow.
With the questioning of the complainants completed regarding allegations of overseas trips for leisure by former NEC Chairperson Roh Tae-ak and other election commission staff, further investigations into those involved are also expected.
Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jung-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
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