Zero NEC Officials at Polling Stations: No Emergency Response Manual Provided

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On the day of the local election, more than 190,000 personnel were deployed to polling stations across the country to manage the voting process. However, no officials from the National Election Commission (NEC) were stationed at the sites. Furthermore, the training materials distributed by the NEC to on-site staff did not include any guidelines for responding to emergency situations, such as a shortage of ballots.

Reporter Ha Jeongyeon has the story.

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This is the 92-page voting management manual distributed to personnel deployed to polling stations before the June 3 local election.

It covers basic voting management duties, as well as response protocols for specific incidents such as photography inside the polling station, possession of weapons, or bringing pets.

However, there are no guidelines for responding to emergency situations, such as a shortage of ballots.

On the day of the election, approximately 193,000 voting management personnel were deployed to 14,288 polling stations nationwide.

Local government officials made up the largest group at about 98,000, followed by 25,000 school staff and 4,000 national government officials.

Employees from financial institutions and public agencies were also drafted.

In contrast, not a single official from the National Election Commission was deployed to the polling stations.

The total number of NEC staff nationwide is 3,034.

The reason given was that there were not enough personnel to station them at every polling site.

NEC staff at each city, county, and district office—averaging around seven people—managed the polling stations collectively from their offices on election day while receiving reports from the field, while also handling ballot counting duties in the afternoon.

This means that temporarily mobilized public servants had to respond to emergency situations on the fly, without proper manuals or training.

[Cho Jin-man / Professor of Political Science and Diplomacy, Duksung Women's University: It is clear that it would be difficult for the public servants and other workers on the ground to make responsible decisions in such situations.]

Public servants who were deployed to the polling stations, but are not affiliated with the NEC, say that the responsibility for any on-site incidents is being shifted onto them.

[Jung Hae-chan / Secretary General, Namhae County Branch of the Korean Government Employees' Union: We are expected to respond with only four hours of training. The control tower has collapsed, and the structure is such that the organizations that came to help with NEC work are forced to take on all the responsibility.]

While strengthening manuals and training are being discussed as primary alternatives, experts point out that the entire election management system must be reformed, with a focus on clarifying the accountability of the NEC.

Reported by Kang Dong-cheol | Video by Shin Se-eun | Graphics by Lee Jun-ho | Data provided by the office of Rep. Yang Bu-nam of the Democratic Party of Korea
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.