It has been revealed that the National Election Commission (NEC) arbitrarily manipulated the election statistics system to fix an error in the voter turnout statistics on the day of the June 3 local elections.

Suspicion has arisen that working-level officials "haphazardly" fixed and covered up a critical issue that could affect election results without reporting to or getting approval from superiors.

With public trust in the NEC already hitting rock bottom due to a ballot paper shortage, the case has entered a new phase as even serious criminal acts beyond negligence have come to light.

According to media reports on July 23, the joint investigation headquarters of prosecutors and police (led by Kim Tae-hoon, senior deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office) for uncovering the truth about the infringement of citizens' right to vote included charges of making false official electronic records and obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means in search and seizure warrants for the Gwacheon NEC and other locations.

The joint investigation team reportedly applied these charges based on findings that when a data entry error occurred during the aggregation of the number of voters, the NEC did not follow established procedures; instead, working-level staff colluded to cover up the error by merely adjusting the numbers in the computer system to match.

This is the first time that circumstances pointing to the manipulation of the NEC election statistics system have been uncovered.

The National Election Commission has traditionally disclosed voter turnout by aggregating the number of voters at polling stations nationwide every hour on both early voting days and election day.

First, voting managers at individual polling stations nationwide report the number of voters by phone or other means, and eup, myeon, and dong committees input the cumulative number of voters into the election management system.

The status is then reported to the gu, si, and gun committees, with verification also conducted by the city-do committees and the National Election Commission.

If a specific polling station incorrectly inputs the number of voters, the figures must be corrected through re-approval following a correction order.

However, investigations showed that NEC staff did not properly go through reporting or approval procedures, but instead arbitrarily manipulated the system to disperse the voter counts to polling stations in other areas.

Working-level staff adjusted the figures haphazardly, gambling that the actual number of voters would increase over time and naturally align with the data.

For example, if the number of voters at a polling station was incorrectly entered as 1,000 instead of 100, the excess was distributed as 100 voters each across nine other polling stations, narrowing the margin of error as actual voters increased over time.

It was also found that NEC staff exchanged messages via an internal messenger suggesting that they should not report the data entry error regarding the number of voter counts, but instead adjust them arbitrarily.

Until now, the ballot paper shortage issue had focused on whether it stemmed from poor management or dereliction of duty by NEC staff.

Depending on whether there was intent, related NEC officials could have faced punishment for charges such as dereliction of duty, or simply ended up with light disciplinary action.

However, evaluations suggest that the gravity of the situation has shifted now that evidence of voter statistics manipulation—amounting to intentional criminal acts beyond simple negligence—has been confirmed.

Given that working-level NEC staff had easy access to the statistical system, there is also significant room for the case to expand, as the possibility of tampering extends beyond turnout statistics to other statistics and computer data.

There is also a possibility that because the hourly turnout statistics failed to reflect actual voter turnout, it acted as a factor that distorted demand projections for ballot papers.

Furthermore, critics point out that because political parties calculate their advantage or disadvantage based on real-time turnout and adjust efforts to rally their supporters, the manipulation may have influenced the election itself.

Ultimately, it is an issue directly linked to public trust in the NEC's overall election management system.

Based on the materials secured in the search and seizure, the joint investigation headquarters plans to look into how extensively this collusion-based manipulation took place and whether there were instances of computer tampering in past elections.

It is also expected to examine whether management-level personnel at the NEC were aware of such manipulation circumstances and whether they properly fulfilled their supervisory duties.

(Photo: Yonhap News)