"Leaving to Borrow Ballots," "Numerous Errors": Jamsil Voting Logs Reveal Extreme Chaos

'Requested instructions after ballot papers were exhausted, but received no answer; was told they would call back, but no contact.' (June 3, 15:52)

'Delivered 50 ballot papers without serial numbers. x2 (∴100 sheets received)' (17:59)

'Numerous errors found in hand-written papers. Realized after several minutes that ballots were distributed with the voting manager's stamp missing.' (18:17)

The voting log from the 6th polling station in Jamsil 2-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, during the June 3 local elections, obtained from the National Election Commission (NEC) today (June 18) by Representative Joo Jin-woo of the ruling People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's special committee investigating the ballot shortage and election management reform, revealed extreme chaos at the scene.

This polling station is a key location where the ballot shortage was first reported.

Rep. Joo obtained all of the NEC's voting logs that are subject to search and seizure by the joint prosecution-police investigation team looking into the ballot shortage.

The target includes 439 polling stations across Seoul's Gwangjin, Gangnam, Dongjak, Songpa, and Seocho districts.

Among them, Songpa-gu, which was known to have experienced the worst chaos on election day, submitted logs for 52 polling stations, excluding those that are currently unobtainable due to protests blocking Olympic Park.

Starting with the 6th polling station in Jamsil 2-dong, the logs from other locations—such as the 2nd polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, where voting was extended, waiting tickets were distributed, and on-site verification took place, and several polling stations in Jamsil 4-dong, where voters faced long waits and additional ballots had to be transported—vividly capture the outcries of voting managers and voters alike.

At the 6th polling station in Jamsil 2-dong, the log records that at 2:53 PM, when only 238 ballots remained, a request for additional distribution was made. However, while waiting without receiving a response, all ballots were exhausted at 4:35 PM, halting the voting process.

Up to this point, the voting log was written in neat print, but from around 6:00 PM, when additional ballots were delivered, scribbled and disorganized entries became noticeable.

In particular, as hand-writing errors were found on the newly distributed ballots and stamps were missing, the panic of the recorder is clearly visible in the logs.

The situation at the 2nd polling station in Jamsil 7-dong was not much different.

The log notes that at 3:30 PM, staff realized only 220 ballots were left and requested 200 more at 3:45 PM. At 4:46 PM, voting was temporarily suspended, and waiting tickets were issued to voters in line.

This polling station also recorded that after they began receiving additional ballots at 5:39 PM, they had to enter the serial numbers manually.

In particular, details about what announcements were broadcast to the Jamsil Woosung Apartments and how many times they were made were also urgently recorded.

The number of people who received waiting tickets but did not return by 8:35 PM was recorded as "17," with visible overwriting marks on the number reflecting the chaos at the time.

The level of detail in the logs also varied wildly from one polling station to another.

The 2nd polling station in Jamsil 4-dong had no related records until it suddenly wrote at 5:45 PM: "Delivered 200 ballots for each election due to a shortage at the 5th polling station."

Meanwhile, the log of the 5th polling station, which supposedly received the ballots, only recorded at 4:08 PM: "Voting suspended due to ballot shortage," and "Total distributed ballots: 1,900."

It remains unconfirmed whether the number of ballots delivered and received matched.

The 5th polling station also noted: "Handover documents for the 2nd and 3rd distributions were missing - not received."

The 6th polling station in Jamsil 4-dong wrote at 5:15 PM: "NEC brought 100 additional ballots," and at 5:30 PM: "Some ballots short. No serial numbers," with no further explanation.

The 7th polling station in Jamsil 4-dong stopped voting multiple times, including at 2:40 PM and 4:46 PM, but recorded that voting was suspended "briefly."

Regarding the distribution of additional ballots, the log had scribbled: "Received 300 ballots from the NEC. 100 sheets, 3 times," which was then crossed out with an 'X' over "300" and corrected to 400. It also noted: "Received 200 ballots from another polling station. 100 sheets, 2 times," before crossing out "200" with a single line and correcting it to 100.

At the 3rd polling station in Garak 2-dong, entries such as "Borrowed 400 ballots from the 2nd polling station," "Received 50 from the NEC, 400 from Garak 2-dong's 3rd polling station," "Called waiting voters," "Hand-writing process takes too long," "50 sheets disappeared in an instant," and "Serial numbers do not connect and are all random" were written in a messy, unaligned manner.


While the most severe chaos occurred at polling stations in Songpa-gu, urgent ballot transport and voters giving up on voting also occurred in areas like Cheongdam-dong in Gangnam-gu and Guui 3-dong in Gwangjin-gu.

The voting log of the 4th polling station in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, noted that they received 400 additional ballots from the NEC, but they lacked serial numbers.

The log also frustratingly recorded the lack of communication, stating: "Called multiple times, but ballots were delivered in three batches of 100, 100, and 200, halting voting twice at 3:30 PM and 4:30 PM."

The 3rd polling station in Guui 3-dong, Gwangjin-gu, recorded that it transferred 200 ballots due to a shortage at the 6th polling station. The 6th polling station, which received them, recorded: "Informed voters they had to wait due to a ballot shortage, but they left saying they had no time," and "Complaints filed."

In addition, entries like "Leaving to borrow ballots" and "Severe disturbance by complainants protesting the suspension of voting" were easily found across multiple voting logs.

Rep. Joo said, "The voting logs clearly reveal the chaos on the ground, including ballots without serial numbers, missing stamps, and hand-writing errors. Since the public's right to vote was infringed, the NEC's responsibility for poor management must be thoroughly investigated."

(Photo courtesy of the Office of Rep. Joo Jin-woo, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.