It has been revealed that a "massive error" occurred in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, on the day of the June 3 local elections, where the number of voters was incorrectly entered by about 3,600 within the span of an hour.

According to data submitted by the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Eun-hee on August 4, the cumulative number of voters in Siheung surged by 4.42% from 22,914 at 9:00 a.m. to 42,482 at 10:00 a.m.

This meant the number of voters increased by 19,568 in just one hour.

Regarding this, the National Election Commission (NEC) explained that when reporting the voter count at 9:00 a.m., three neighborhoods—Jeongwang Bon-dong, Yeonsan-dong, and Neunggok-dong in Siheung—failed to press the voter registration button, and the Siheung Election Commission overlooked this fact while pressing the district, city, and county data reporting button, resulting in 3,612 voters being omitted.

The NEC added that the Siheung Election Commission later confirmed this fact and reflected the omitted figures in the 10:00 a.m. report.

As a result of reflecting the actually omitted voter counts for the three neighborhoods, the cumulative number of voters in Siheung increased by 12,344 (2.79%) over the hour, from 26,526 at 9:00 a.m. to 38,870 at 10:00 a.m.

This represents a 1.63 percentage point difference from the voter turnout increase rate announced by the NEC for Siheung.

There are also analyses suggesting that such anomalies in voter statistics may have distorted regional voter turnout statuses on election day.

Previously, the NEC announced that among constituencies in Gyeonggi Province as of 9:00 a.m. on election day, Siheung recorded the lowest voter turnout at 5.2%.

Given that the omitted voter count reached approximately 3,600, if these figures had been reflected normally, there is a strong possibility that there would have been changes in the voter turnout rankings by constituency.

The hourly voter turnout provided by the NEC follows a structure where election managers at polling stations report the voter count by phone to town, township, and neighborhood committees, which then report it to district, city, and county committees via the election management system.

Subsequently, the district, city, and county committees transmit the voter counts to the provincial and central election commissions through the vote-counting reporting system.

The joint investigation headquarters of prosecutors and police, which is investigating allegations of voter statistics tampering by the election commission, is continuing its investigation under the belief that when errors occurred in the voter counts reported through these channels, election commission staff did not correct them through normal reporting procedures but instead manipulated voter turnout by dispersing and inputting the voter numbers.

Lawmaker Kim Eun-hee stated, "Even though our office analyzed just one previously unknown location in Gyeonggi Province, it turned out to be voter turnout manipulation. Similar patterns are being confirmed in statistics from other regions," adding, "We plan to submit the related data to investigative authorities."

(Photo: Yonhap News)