The Election Commission "Acknowledges Mistake in Managing Damaged Early Voting Ballots, Deeply Apologizes and Takes Responsibility"

On the afternoon of the 28th, an early voting and vote counting demonstration was held at the Central Election Commission in Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The National Election Commission acknowledged and apologized for the mismanagement of damaged early voting ballots in relation to media reports that 'early voting ballots from Buyeo were found at a junkyard in Siheung.'

On the 22nd, the Election Commission stated, "After verifying the seal and the early voting manager's stamp on the early voting ballots, it was determined that the ballots in question were early voting ballots from Cheongyang County, not Buyeo County," adding, "These early voting ballots were damaged during printing at special early voting stations set up for COVID-19 confirmed patients (the 2nd early voting station in Yangnam-myeon, Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk, and Hyundai Motor Gyeongju Training Center)."

The issue began when the constituency ballots for voters were printed normally, but a jam occurred during the printing of proportional representation ballots, causing the printing to stop. When the cover of the ballot issuing machine was opened and the roll paper was realigned and restarted, one proportional representation ballot and one constituency ballot were reprinted each.

The early voting staff informed the voter that newly printed ballots would be issued and notified the observers of this fact. The initially printed constituency ballot was torn up in front of the voter and placed into the ‘damaged ballots storage envelope,’ which was then sealed after the voting ended.

To guarantee the voting rights of COVID-19 confirmed voters, the Election Commission operated eight special early voting stations at residential treatment centers on April 10 and 11. Generally, local government employees manage early voting stations, and early voting logs and related election documents are handed over to the district/city/county election commissions. However, due to difficulties in securing personnel amid COVID-19 infection concerns and to reduce the voting management burden on district/city/county election commissions on election day, the National Election Commission appointed its own staff as early voting managers to oversee these special early voting stations.

Early voting managers and staff loaded election equipment and early voting logs onto vehicles and returned to the National Election Commission, where they handed over the vehicles remotely and immediately entered self-quarantine.

The National Election Commission sent early voting logs and related election documents that needed to be handed over to the Gyeongju City Election Commission by registered mail. However, during this process, the ‘damaged ballots deposit envelope’ from the 2nd early voting station in Yangnam-myeon was omitted and was later found to have been discarded mixed with other items.

On the 21st of last month, the Cheongyang County Election Commission, under the observation of party-appointed commissioners, confirmed that the number of early voting ballots issued outside the district matched the number of votes (1,778 ballots), and verified the actual out-of-district early voting ballots with serial numbers matching those reported in the media (1,751 valid votes).

The National Election Commission stated, "Although the early voting of voters was processed normally and the ballots were received and counted, there was a mistake in managing the damaged early voting ballots during the non-face-to-face handover process implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We deeply regret the responsibility for this and sincerely apologize to the public for causing concern."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.