"False Voter Count Entries Confirmed in 25 Additional Election Commission Offices"

[Anchor]

The special counsel team investigating the National Election Commission has launched a compulsory investigation after capturing circumstances where hourly voter counts were falsely entered at polling stations across 30 regions during the June 3 local elections. In addition to the five cities, counties, and districts where suspicions were initially raised, circumstances indicating that 25 additional regional election commission offices were involved have newly come to light.

Reporter Kim Deok-hyeon has the report.

[Reporter]

Starting this morning (October 15), the special counsel team deployed 31 personnel, including three prosecutors, to simultaneously conduct raids on seven regional election commission offices nationwide, including the National Election Commission and four provincial and municipal election commissions.

Having confirmed that hourly voter counts were falsely entered into the election management system during the June 3 local elections, the search and seizure warrants specified charges including the falsification of official electronic records and obstruction of official duties.

Previously, the joint prosecution and police investigation headquarters identified circumstances of false entries in five locations: Seocho and Gangnam in Seoul, Gimpo and Uiwang in Gyeonggi Province, and Jincheon in North Chungcheong Province.

However, the special counsel team stated that similar issues occurred at 25 local election commission offices nationwide, including Jangan-gu in Suwon, Jungwon-gu in Seongnam, and Giheung-gu in Yongin in Gyeonggi Province; Heungdeok-gu in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province; and Seongsan-gu in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.

The special counsel team is understood to have captured circumstances where they repeatedly entered hourly voter status with fake numbers of identical values and later modified them to match the final voter tally.

Having dispatched investigators to the National Election Commission since late last month to analyze election management system log data and other materials, the special counsel team identified the problematic polling stations after questioning around 70 officials belonging to regional election commission offices.

Based on the seized materials, the special counsel team plans to determine the exact scale of the falsely entered voter counts and identify officials who ordered or participated in the acts.

(Photo: Yonhap News) (Video reporting: Yang Hyun-chul, Video editing: Wi Won-yang, Design: Jang Sung-beom, Kim Han-gil)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.