Special Counsel Finds Signs of "Voting Record Tampering"... Raids National and Seoul Election Commissions

NEC Ordered Voting Records to Be Filled Out After the Election
At 40-Plus of 140-Plus Polling Stations Using Unnumbered Ballots
Serial Numbers Arbitrarily Entered; Special Notes Added
Suspected of Submitting Records to National Assembly While Concealing Alterations

The special counsel team led by Lee Tae-han, which is investigating the ballot shortages and other issues in the June 3 local elections, has launched a compulsory investigation after finding evidence that voting records from more than 40 polling stations nationwide were altered after the fact at the direction of the National Election Commission (NEC).

The team said it began search and seizure operations at the NEC and the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission at 9 a.m. on November 4. The search targets include 10 NEC departments, including the offices of the NEC chair and secretary-general. The warrants reportedly cover not only newly uncovered allegations of tampering with voting records but also dereliction of duty in connection with the ballot shortages.

A plaque commemorating the official launch of Special Counsel Lee Tae-han's team, tasked with investigating the ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections and other issues, stands outside the special counsel's office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Yonhap News Agency

According to the special counsel team, during the local elections in June, so-called “unnumbered ballots”—ballots without printed serial numbers—were distributed to and used at more than 140 polling stations nationwide because of a shortage. Under the Public Official Election Act, ballots must bear printed serial numbers.

Investigators found that, immediately after the election, the NEC instructed election commissions at various levels nationwide to fill out voting records after the fact and collected the results. Voting records are official documents that record the management and distribution of ballots and the progress of voting on election day. After vote counting is complete, they must be sealed and retained until the elected official’s term ends.

Election commissions at various levels that received instructions from the NEC are believed to have added information to the “special notes” section of the voting records, including arbitrarily entering serial numbers for unnumbered ballots and noting that they had requested measures in anticipation of a ballot shortage. Entries stating that they had received unnumbered ballots were also added after the fact.

The special counsel team has confirmed that voting records were altered at at least 40 of the more than 140 polling stations nationwide where unnumbered ballots were distributed. The NEC is also suspected of collecting the voting records after they had been amended, then submitting them to the National Assembly and other bodies without disclosing the alterations. The team is investigating how the records came to be amended after the fact, as officials faced possible calls to account for the ballot shortages and election-related lawsuits.

On November 4, the team also searched the NEC’s Election Infrastructure Division, company offices and factories in connection with allegations of favoritism in contracts for manufacturing early-voting ballot printers and purchasing consumables. The searches followed the discovery of evidence that, in a KRW 32.1 billion printer-manufacturing project, the NEC leaked project plans to a particular company before bidding and overlooked contract violations, then changed its purchasing guidelines to allow the company to exclusively supply consumables worth KRW 13.8 billion.

The special counsel team said, “We will thoroughly investigate the various allegations surrounding the ballot shortages, including the alteration of voting records, to establish the facts and determine who is responsible.”

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