"Start Voting Later Because Commuting Is Early": Absurd Suggestions Found in Report

It has been revealed that a 2022 research report by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, which the National Election Commission (NEC) used as the basis for reducing the number of ballots printed for the June 3 local elections, clearly reflected the NEC's administrative convenience-oriented attitude that led to the "ballot shortage" crisis.

In the section on "Improvement Plans for Voting and Counting Management," the report included a review of changing the start time for early voting from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., citing complaints from NEC staff in surveys that their reporting time was too early.

The report stated, "All staff must report to work 2 to 3 hours before voting begins during the early voting period," and added that "there is a high demand for adjusting early voting hours."

However, the report noted that while NEC staff collectively suggested delaying the start time for early voting, they were negative about the idea of extending the hours later into the evening after work.

Even at the time the report was written, experts pointed out flaws in these suggestions. A university professor, cited in the report as an expert in political science, noted, "It has limitations as it lacks consideration for people who want to vote early in the morning and go about their daily lives."

The report also included content suggesting the need to reduce the number of ballots printed for election day voting.

This served as the basis for the NEC to reduce the ballot printing volume from over 60% of the number of eligible voters to "over 50%."

The conclusion of the report was that the reduction was necessary due to a lack of storage space for ballots before they are distributed.

In effect, the conclusion was to simply reduce the number of ballots rather than expanding the storage space.

The NEC stated that this report was merely reference material and not the official position of the commission.

However, critics argue that the NEC cannot be free from responsibility, given that the primary research methods used were surveys and in-depth interviews with NEC staff.

The report was conducted after the 20th presidential election in 2022, which was marred by the "basket voting" controversy, and was finalized in December of the same year.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Seo Byeong-wook | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.