Polling Station No. 5 in Cheongju's Seonghwa-Gaesin-Jungnim-dong replaced the incomplete voter list within 30 minutes

Residents line up to vote at a polling station set up at the Seo-Cheongju Post Office in Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on June 3, the main voting day for the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections. [Yonhap]
Residents line up to vote at a polling station set up at the Seo-Cheongju Post Office in Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on June 3, the main voting day for the 9th nationwide simultaneous local elections. [Yonhap]

Amid mounting criticism over ballot shortages during the June 3 local elections, it has emerged that a polling station in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, operated with an incomplete voter list on election day, leaving some voters unable to cast their ballots on time.

The North Chungcheong Province Election Commission issued a public apology Monday, saying it was "deeply sorry for the inconvenience and concern caused to residents who visited Polling Station No. 5 in Seonghwa-Gaesin-Jungnim-dong, Cheongju, on June 3, due to an inadequately prepared voter list."

The commission added that it would "identify the exact causes and problems to put in place measures to prevent a recurrence of any disruption to voter participation."

The incident occurred around 6:10 a.m. on June 3 at Polling Station No. 5, set up at the Gaesin Jugong Apartment Complex No. 1 senior center in Cheongju, when voters discovered their names were missing from the electoral roll and were unable to vote.

Election workers found that one of the two voter list volumes — which together should have contained 4,000 names — was missing entries numbered 2,842 through 4,137, leaving roughly 1,200 voters off the list.

The commission determined that the omission had occurred during the printing process. After notifying affected voters, it reprinted the list and resumed voting within about 30 minutes.

During the interruption, voters whose names appeared in the original list were able to vote without disruption, but eight voters whose names were missing had to wait. Of those, three signed a separate sheet of paper as directed by election officials and completed their votes; another three left, heard a public announcement and returned to vote. The remaining two ultimately did not cast ballots.

An official from the administrative welfare center that operated the polling station said an error during the printing of the voter list caused the problem. "We are sorry for not checking more carefully," the official said.

Kim Young-hwan, the North Chungcheong governor who lost his reelection bid, wrote on his Facebook page Monday that "what happened in North Chungcheong is essentially no different from what occurred at more than 60 polling stations across the country," adding that he "cannot accept the results of this election, in which the right to vote was violated."

Meanwhile, Noh Tae-ak, chairman of the National Election Commission, issued a public apology June 5 and offered his resignation, saying he "takes full responsibility for everything that happened" following ballot shortages in parts of Seoul, including Gangnam-gu, Songpa-gu and Gwangjin-gu, on election day. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de revoked Noh's designation as a National Election Commission member Monday afternoon and notified the commission accordingly.

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