Defective 'Made-in-China' Ballot Boxes Cost 1.3 Billion Won: Election Watchdog Asks for Another 1.6 Billion Won

After a large number of defects were found in Chinese-made early voting ballot boxes produced for nearly 1.3 billion won ahead of this year's local elections, South Korea's National Election Commission (NEC) has reportedly asked the National Assembly for an additional budget of over 1.6 billion won to produce new ballot boxes.

This means the commission has moved to secure new production funding even before concluding the contract cancellation and advance payment recovery with the previous manufacturer.

According to the office of Representative Seo Myung-ok of the People Power Party, the NEC requested a budget increase of 1.619 billion won from the National Assembly to manufacture new early voting ballot boxes next year.

Earlier, ahead of this year's local elections, the NEC signed a contract worth 1.265 billion won to replace precinct early voting ballot boxes that had been in use for 12 years.

However, defects such as incorrectly assembled parts and faulty locking mechanisms were discovered in 790 of the 13,376 pouch-style early voting ballot boxes delivered.

The ballot boxes found to have defects were recalled, and delivery was delayed by 21 days past the original deadline.

Furthermore, controversy erupted over the fact that the products were manufactured in China.

In response, the NEC requested the Public Procurement Service to terminate the contract on September 18.

At the same time, the commission requested a new production budget despite the financial settlement of the previous contract remaining unresolved.

The NEC cited the reason that while it plans to recover the advance payment of about 630 million won paid to the manufacturer, the money cannot immediately be used for new production costs because it may be tied up in litigation.

It also explained that the remaining balance of approximately 600 million won from the existing project budget cannot legally be used for new purchases.

Moreover, the NEC argued that it is difficult to reuse the ballot boxes it currently possesses.

The commission explained that most of the previous boxes used for 12 years have already been discarded, and the new boxes manufactured this year cannot be reused due to defect issues.

In addition, the NEC requested budget increases in this proposal, including 350 million won for preliminary research to introduce mail-in voting for overseas nationals.

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Jang Yu-jin | Design by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.