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It has been revealed that during last month's local elections, the National Election Commission requested corrections 72 times, claiming that voter numbers had been incorrectly entered into the electronic system. In some regions, the recorded number of voters differed by thousands, but the election commission has merely maintained that they appear to be simple mistakes.

Reporter Park Chan-beom has the details.

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This is the "Log of Revisions to Hourly Voter Counts on the Day of the June 3 Local Elections" submitted by the National Election Commission to the National Assembly.

Out of 255 city, county, and district election commissions nationwide, 56—accounting for about 20%—requested 72 revisions to voter numbers. In several cases, the difference before and after the correction reached thousands of people.

Following the revision, the election commission for Geomdan-gu, Incheon, saw the number of voters as of 4:00 PM increase by 6,611.

At the time, officials only stated that the numbers were being revised because the figures tallied by polling station did not match. When SBS asked why the corrections were necessary, the Incheon Election Commission responded, "As the joint investigation headquarters of the prosecution and police is investigating the entire election commission, our response is restricted."

The election commission for Sangdang-gu, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, saw its voter count as of 5:00 PM increase by 4,248 due to data entry errors, while the Sacheon Election Commission in South Gyeongsang Province recorded an increase of 3,997 in its voter count for 12:00 PM due to omissions.

The election commission for Seobuk-gu, Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, initially revised its 8:00 AM voter count from 13,145 down to 6,000, only to correct it back up to 13,146 later.

An official from the relevant election commission explained to SBS, "We haven't figured out the exact reason, but it appears to be a simple mistake."

[Kim Eun-hye / Member of the People Power Party: This shows that voter turnout, which should be the most basic and accurate metric, was tracked and modified in a haphazard manner. This is why an intensive, unsparing special counsel investigation is necessary.]

Meanwhile, it was also revealed that following the 2024 general election, two public audit requests were filed asking for an investigation into suspicions of manipulation regarding voter counts and turnout rates. At the time, the election commission dismissed or rejected the requests on the grounds that lawsuits concerning allegations of election fraud were still underway.

(Photo: Yonhap News) (Note: Video reporting by Lee Seung-hwan and Shin Dong-hwan; video editing by Wi Won-yang; design by Cho Soo-in, Hwang Se-yeon, and Lee Ga-jin)