<앵커>
During the 21st presidential election, it was revealed that the number of voters per time slot at several polling stations was entered as increasing by exactly 100 people at a time. While this appears to be a case of sloppy data entry, the National Election Commission (NEC) explained that there are no problems with the final voter turnout and that it was not rigged.
Reporter Bae Junu has the story.
<기자>
These are the hourly voter numbers on the day of the 21st presidential election in June of last year, submitted by the National Election Commission to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo.
At the 6th polling station in Hongje 2-dong, Seoul, the number of voters started at 100 at 7:00 a.m., followed by 200 at 8:00 a.m., 300 at 9:00 a.m., and 500 at 10:00 a.m. In the afternoon, it continued to increase strictly in units of 100, showing 1,300 at 2:00 p.m. and 1,400 at 3:00 p.m., before finally recording 2,099 at the closing hour of 8:00 p.m.
Similarly, at five other locations from the 1st to 5th polling stations in Hongje 2-dong, hourly voter numbers were continuously entered in units of 100 until 7:00 p.m., while only the 8:00 p.m. voter count was recorded with exact figures like 1,338 and 1,738.
Such cases of hundred-unit entries were also found at the 2nd and 3rd polling stations in Namgajwa 1-dong, Seoul, and the 9th polling station in Uichang-dong, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.
Meanwhile, at the 1st polling station in Namchon-dong, Osan, Gyeonggi Province, the hourly voter count was entered identically as 1,100 across four consecutive counts from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
[Joo Jin-woo / People Power Party Lawmaker : Given the trends of voter turnout, voting cannot suddenly stop like this. It is clear that the number of voters was falsely manipulated.]
Lawmaker Joo pointed out that instances of hundred-unit entries and unchanged voter numbers for certain periods appeared across a total of 109 polling stations.
In response, the National Election Commission explained that local election officials at eup, myeon, and dong polling stations may have reported figures in units of 100 during the initial tally and reporting process. However, the commission maintained that because there are no issues with the final voter turnout rate, it was not an act of manipulation.
Nevertheless, critics point out that this shows a complacent attitude, as real-time voter turnout itself can be crucial information.
[Han Sang-hee / Professor, Konkuk University School of Law : Real-time voter turnout is essential data that helps voters decide whether or not to cast their ballots. I think the system itself is flawed.]
Lawmaker Joo stated that an analysis of hourly voter numbers from the local elections in June of last year also revealed 34 polling stations where the number of voters showed no change for three hours or more.
(Video reporting: Shin Dong-hwan, Park Hyun-chul | Video editing: Lee So-young, Design: Lim Chan-hyeok)
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