During the June 3 local elections, the number of cases where the National Election Commission requested corrections after incorrectly entering voter counts into its computer system rose to 72. In some areas, the difference before and after the corrections reached thousands of voters, yet the election commission merely offers excuses that they were mostly simple mistakes.
Reporter Park Chan-beom has the details.
[Reporter]
This is the log of revisions regarding hourly voter counts on the day of the June 3 local elections submitted by the National Election Commission to the National Assembly.
Out of 255 city, county, and district election commissions nationwide, 56 commissions, accounting for about 20 percent, requested 72 corrections to voter counts. In multiple cases, the difference before and after the revision reached thousands of people.
After a revision, the election commission in Geomdan-gu, Incheon, saw the number of voters as of 4:00 PM increase by 6,611.
At the time, officials only stated that figures aggregated by polling station did not match and were being corrected. When asked why the correction was necessary, the Incheon Election Commission told SBS that "answers are limited because a joint police and prosecution investigation headquarters is currently investigating the entire election commission."
The election commission in Sangdang-gu, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, also saw its voter count as of 5:00 PM increase by 4,248 due to misentry, while the Sacheon Election Commission in South Gyeongsang Province saw its voter count at noon increase by 3,997 due to omissions.
Meanwhile, the election commission in Seobuk-gu, Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, corrected its 8:00 AM voter count from 13,145 down to 6,000, before amending it back to 13,146.
An official from the relevant election commission explained to SBS, "We have not figured out the exact reason, but it appears to be a simple mistake."
[Kim Eun-hye / Member of the People Power Party: This shows that voter turnout, which should be the most basic and accurate data, was tracked and revised in a haphazard manner. This is why an intensive independent counsel investigation must be conducted without leaving any sanctuary.]
Meanwhile, it was also revealed that following the 2024 general election, two public audit requests calling for an investigation into allegations of manipulation of voter counts and turnout were filed. At the time, the election commission dismissed or rejected the requests on the grounds that lawsuits regarding allegations of election fraud were still ongoing.
(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan | Video editing: Wi Won-yang | Design: Cho Soo-in, Hwang Se-yeon, Lee Ga-jin)
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