Ballots Leave Olympic Park After 147 Days

About 2.47 million ballots, which had been held at the Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Songpa-gu, Seoul, for 146 days following the June 3 local elections, were moved out of the venue this morning (October 29). Vehicles loaded with the ballots began moving around 6:18 a.m., and the transfer concluded at 6:39 a.m. as the final vehicle departed.

Earlier, the special prosecutor team's public inspection, which began yesterday morning, ended around 0:38 a.m. today. Around 10 observers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP), including PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok and Supreme Council member Kim Min-soo, remained at the scene. They argued that evidence could be compromised if the National Election Commission (NEC), which they consider a suspect in the crime, took custody of the ballots where abnormalities were detected. After confronting the special prosecutor team for nearly six hours while blocking the transfer, PPP leader Jang told reporters at around 6:50 a.m., "The election commission and the special prosecutor disappeared with the ballot boxes under police cover as if carrying out a military operation or fleeing into the night. The public will not forgive this. Now, this is a fresh start." The PPP leadership made clear its intention not to let the Olympic Park controversy end despite the special prosecutor's inspection.

Special Prosecutor Lee Tae-han's team launched the inspection at the handball arena at 11:49 a.m. yesterday (October 28). Although originally scheduled to begin around 9:00 a.m., it was delayed by nearly three hours as observers from the People Power Party protested restrictions on taking photographs and video recordings. Following consultations, the special prosecutor allowed two broadcasting network cameras to film and permitted observers designated by the ruling and opposition parties to photograph questionable ballots within a limited scope. Around 110 investigators from the special prosecutor team and about 500 NEC staff members were deployed for the inspection. An observer delegation selected by the National Assembly and members of the press also watched the process.

The inspection was conducted in three main stages.

First, the physical ballot papers were examined. External seal stickers and the sealed condition of ballot boxes were checked for the Seoul mayoral, Songpa district mayor, Seoul metropolitan council, Songpa district council, and education superintendent elections. Subsequently, at 40 counting tables, NEC staff flipped through the ballots one by one to visually examine the printing condition, stamping marks, and any defects in the paper, before verifying the quantities using counting machines. Ballots suspected of abnormalities were sorted separately. Investigators used digital microscopes and infrared spectrometers provided by the National Forensic Service and the police to further examine printing and possible forgery or alteration. When necessary, findings were recorded in appraisal logs and signed by observers and special prosecutor personnel.

Second, voting and vote-counting equipment was inspected. Relevant equipment, including ballot sorters and review-counting devices, was examined for potential errors or hacking. Investigators also checked whether there were discrepancies in count numbers or abnormal operations during the process of sorting and tallying actual ballots with the equipment. However, the special prosecutor team has yet to release a final determination on whether actual hacking occurred or errors were confirmed.

Third, the arena's CCTV footage was reviewed. This was conducted to determine whether any unauthorized outsiders entered the facility during the extended storage period, or if there were traces of anyone approaching or tampering with the ballot boxes. Based on CCTV footage secured through a search and seizure the previous day (October 27), the special prosecutor team also reviewed whether unauthorized intruders appeared in recently recorded footage. Because this inspection was an investigative procedure to determine whether criminal acts occurred during election management, and not a court-ordered recount resulting from election nullification lawsuits, the election results themselves will not change.

Following the conclusion of the inspection procedures, the special prosecutor team moved 13 of the roughly 420 ballot boxes to its office. These boxes contain ballots deemed to require further verification due to objections raised by observers and other issues. Some will be sent to the National Forensic Service for detailed forensic appraisal, while the remainder will undergo additional analysis by the special prosecutor team. The remaining boxes were transferred to a warehouse in the greater Seoul area managed separately by the NEC. Moving forward, the investigation will proceed by cross-checking the ballots, equipment, CCTV footage, and ballot-counting documents secured by the special prosecutor to determine whether unlawful acts actually took place.

Immediately after the inspection ended, Special Prosecutor Lee Tae-han said, "Respecting objections raised by observers during the verification process, we selected a significant number of ballots deemed in need of further analysis, including receiving entire specific ballot boxes via voluntary submission, and we plan to conduct a thorough analysis." He added, "We will neither rush to conclude matters that remain unverified, nor dismiss suspicions without thorough verification."

The People Power Party claimed that new circumstances indicating election fraud emerged during the public inspection.

Party Leader Jang Dong-hyeok wrote on Facebook, "There were storage boxes with modified or reworked seals, ballots with different colors or narrower margins on the left and right, and ballots missing the election manager's stamp or bearing stamps of different colors." Furthermore, describing the transfer of the 400-plus inspected ballot boxes to the NEC as "returning evidence to a criminal suspect," he foreshadowed additional responses.

In the Democratic Party, lawmakers serving on the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee held a press conference to push back.

Committee Chair Kim Young-jin demanded an apology from Leader Jang, saying, "It makes no sense that election fraud would be committed in Songpa-gu, where People Power Party candidates won overwhelmingly. Even after the verification, they continue to claim election fraud while repeating various groundless assertions." Lawmaker Yang Bu-nam defined the move as "a political ploy to rekindle the dying embers of election fraud conspiracy theories."

The ballot shortage crisis during the local elections, which incurred tremendous social costs over more than five months, fueled public outrage over infringements on voting rights as instances of shoddy management by the NEC came to light one after another. A special prosecutor team was launched led by the People Power Party, shifting the tasks of uncovering the truth and punishing those responsible from the realm of political gain and disputes into the realm of criminal investigation. The additional suspicions raised by the People Power Party during this public inspection—such as damaged seals, ballot printing conditions, and numerical discrepancies in counting records—must likewise be cleared up through investigation. It remains to be seen whether these will serve as evidence of long-rumored election fraud or stand as yet another example of slipshod election management. Questions will also continue over whether the inspection process was sufficiently transparent. Nevertheless, all of this can now be entrusted to the special prosecutor, a mechanism established through political consensus.

What, then, should the political arena do? Following the June 3 local elections, ruling and opposition lawmakers introduced more than 60 bills concerning the ballot shortage crisis and NEC reform. The Democratic Party is pushing as party policy reform bills that would make the NEC chairperson a full-time position, establish an audit committee, and strengthen National Assembly oversight. The People Power Party has also put forward measures such as printing ballots to 100 percent of the electorate, abolishing early voting, and introducing on-site hand counting.

However, tracking the introduced bills reveals that they remain stalled at the standing committee reception stage. This means no substantive discussions have taken place at the committee plenary or subcommittee level. To be sure, there are matters with stark disagreements, such as abolishing early voting. Yet differences of opinion offer no reason to shelve all election management reforms. Lawmakers could begin by discussing areas where both ruling and opposition parties acknowledge the necessity, such as making the NEC chairperson a full-time post or introducing an external auditing system. With less than five months until next year's by-elections and re-elections, there is no time to waste. Lawmakers cannot fail to do their jobs and then blame the system once again. (End)

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