Special Counsel Asks Election Commission to Preserve the Condition of 'Ballots Removed from Olympic Park'

Ballots subject to objections to undergo additional detailed examination
Ballots with no objections moved to a third-party site and repackaged

The special counsel team investigating the shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections has requested that materials related to ballots removed from Olympic Park be preserved in their current condition.

Election Commission Special Counsel Team Conducts Public Verification of Ballots

On October 28, officials from the Election Commission special counsel team, staff members and observers prepare for a public verification of ballots from the June 3 local elections at the Handball Gymnasium in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul. (October 28, 2026, Photo by Joint Press Corps)

The team said on the 30th that it had asked the National Election Commission to preserve ballots for which no objections were raised during the verification process, in case further verification is needed later.

The team completed a public verification of approximately 2.47 million ballots from Songpa-gu and items at the site that had been stored at the Handball Stadium in Olympic Park. The verification began on the morning of October 28.

Of the 433 boxes containing ballots, the National Election Commission took away 420 boxes of ballots found to have no irregularities, while the special counsel team removed the 13 boxes containing ballots that were subject to objections.

The team said, "We plan to conduct additional detailed examinations of the ballots and equipment that were subject to objections."

Ballots and other materials that drew no objections during verification were moved to a third-party location, rather than to the National Election Commission. After being sorted and repackaged, they are being stored at a site equipped with security systems, including an access control system and CCTV, and staffed by security personnel around the clock.

The team said its investigators accompanied the materials from the time they were removed from Olympic Park and monitored the entire process of unloading and stacking them.

According to Democratic Party lawmakers on the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, the need for further verification was raised for a total of more than 700 ballots. Observers at the public verification reportedly raised concerns that some ballots were stiff and showed no fold marks.

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