Evidence Found That Ballot Shortage Warning Was Ignored... JIT Expands Investigation Network

Despite Official Notice to "Prepare for Shortages in Low Early Voting Areas,"

Local Election Commissions Suspected of Negligence

The Joint Investigation Headquarters (JIH), composed of prosecutors and police, which is investigating the ballot paper shortage incident during the June 3 local elections, has uncovered evidence that regional election commissions were aware in advance of the potential for such a crisis but failed to carry out the response guidelines issued by the National Election Commission.

According to legal sources on July 5, the JIH conducted a search and seizure of the National Election Commission's server and secured an internal email titled 'Guidance on Precautions for Ballot Management Work.' The team is now closely reviewing how local election commissions actually responded to the situation.

Yonhap News

It was found that immediately after early voting ended, on May 31, the National Election Commission sent an official directive to all city, county, and district election commissions nationwide, instructing them to take proactive measures. The directive emphasized that precincts with low early voting turnout could face a shortage of ballots on election day due to a surge in voters, recommending, for example, the additional allocation of unnumbered ballot papers.

The JIH suspects that, despite having access to early voting turnout data and receiving this warning email, the regional commissions failed to take appropriate countermeasures. The JIH believes that if the existing guidelines and regulations had been properly followed, the confusion caused by ballot shortages on election day could have been prevented in advance.

Alongside this, the JIH is also investigating the circumstances under which the number of printed ballots was reduced to around 50% of the total number of eligible voters. The investigation team summoned an official from the Songpa District Election Commission as a witness to determine whether there were internal concerns or objections raised during the decision-making process regarding the reduction of ballot papers.

Since its establishment last month, the JIH has summoned and questioned more than 70 individuals, including polling station managers affected by the ballot shortage and local election commission staff. Once testimony from frontline staff and the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission is completed, the investigation will be expanded to include senior officials in the decision-making chain. In addition, with the completion of complainant interviews, the JIH is also expected to soon begin summoning those accused in connection with the alleged overseas business trip of former National Election Commission Chairman Noh Tae-ak.

Meanwhile, the JIH has also received from the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office cases related to internal hiring irregularities and the alleged falsification of budget requests within the election commission, launching a comprehensive investigation. Previously, the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency referred the head of general affairs and the head of human resources at the Gyeonggi Provincial Election Commission to the prosecution on charges of arbitrarily adjusting the interview scores of certain candidates during the 2021 experienced-hire recruitment process.

Additionally, the JIH's investigation includes allegations that National Election Commission staff deliberately omitted points raised by the Board of Audit and Inspection when preparing budget requests, thereby securing funding from the Ministry of Economy and Finance under false pretenses.

To thoroughly examine potential misconduct in the commission’s overall management, the JIH has set up dedicated personnel and budget teams and is accelerating staff reinforcement. On July 1, an additional chief prosecutor from the Tongyeong branch of the Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office joined the investigation team, and on July 6, two more prosecutors are scheduled to be dispatched. The JIH is also taking steps to secure additional police investigators.

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