Exclusive: Polling Station Locks Doors Amid Protests, Confusion Deepens Over Extended Voting Hours

[Anchor]

At this polling station, doors were locked even while voting was still underway due to an extension, and ballot counting began while people were still casting their votes.

Ha Jeongyeon has the report.

[Reporter]

Chaos intensified at the Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station after 6:00 p.m., the official closing time under election law.

Outside the polling station, reporters and protesting citizens gathered, while inside, voters filled the space, some waiting while checking the news on their phones.

As voting continued—with one woman appearing to be pregnant exercising her right to vote—staff closed the polling station doors at 7:03 p.m.

About 20 minutes later, the Songpa-gu Election Commission chairperson declared the start of ballot counting, even though voting was still ongoing inside.

This has sparked controversy over the legality of the process.

[Jo Hyun-wook / Chairperson of the Committee for Truth regarding the June 3 Local Election Ballot Shortage: Regarding the inappropriate decision to extend voting hours... The ballot count was declared and initiated while voting was still being conducted due to the extension...]

Around 8:50 p.m., when the Seoul Election Commission announced that voting hours at the No. 2 polling station would be extended until 10:00 p.m., the number of protesting citizens increased. Staff stood blocking the entrance and eventually locked the doors at 9:15 p.m.

They only allowed entry to voters who had arrived by 6:00 p.m. and received a waiting ticket, filtering them through the gap in the doors.

[Citizen: Do I need a waiting ticket? I came earlier and left. Can I go back in and vote?]

Some voters arrived after hearing news of the extension, having been unable to vote at other polling stations.

[Citizen: We came back to vote because we heard they were open until 10:00 p.m. We thought it would be possible since they said voting was allowed.]

Around 9:28 p.m., a voter with their face covered entered, finished voting, and tried to leave through the back door to avoid the crowd outside, but eventually had to exit through the front door.

CCTV footage shows that only one person voted after the doors were locked.

[Kim Jeong-cheol / Supreme Council Member of the Reform Party: They thought it was guaranteed until 10:00 p.m., but the doors were already locked before that. How could anyone go in and vote under those conditions? I believe this is a serious infringement on voting rights.]

Furthermore, among the 175 people who received waiting tickets, 12 did not cast their votes. It is possible that they turned away due to the difficulty of even entering the polling station.

(Video reporting: Ha Ryung | Video editing: Lee Seung-hee | Design: Choi Jin-hoe)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.