Ongjin-gun printed ballots for 100% of voters; Songpa-gu printed just 51%

Comprehensive management guidelines set without a formal meeting

Vote counting proceeds at the Seogwipo Election Commission's counting center set up at the multipurpose gymnasium of the Gongcheonpo Field Training Center in Namwon-eup, Seogwipo, Jeju, on June 3. [Yonhap]
Vote counting proceeds at the Seogwipo Election Commission's counting center set up at the multipurpose gymnasium of the Gongcheonpo Field Training Center in Namwon-eup, Seogwipo, Jeju, on June 3. [Yonhap]

A controversy over inconsistent ballot printing standards has emerged after all 255 district, city and county election commissions across the country set their own printing volumes based on past turnout data and other local factors.

The disparity was most starkly illustrated by Incheon's Ongjin-gun, which printed ballots for 100 percent of its eligible voters, while Seoul's Songpa-gu printed enough for just 51 percent — a gap that stemmed directly from those inconsistent standards during the June 3 local elections.

A "ballot shortage status report" submitted Wednesday by the National Election Commission to People Power Party lawmaker Kim Seung-su showed that on election day, Gwangju and Sejong printed ballots equivalent to 50 percent of their registered voters, while Gangwon Province printed 66 percent. In the Greater Seoul area, Seoul and Gyeonggi Province each came in at 58 percent, while Incheon stood at 53 percent.

The Songpa-gu Election Commission voted to print ballots at the minimum threshold of 50 percent for 25 of its 27 administrative neighborhoods, with only Jamsil 3-dong and Jamsil 4-dong set at 60 percent, bringing the district-wide average to 51 percent. The commission's projections proved badly off: Songpa-gu's actual turnout on election day reached 65.8 percent, the fourth highest in Seoul.

The National Election Commission sent guidelines to district-level commissions in December last year instructing them to set a floor of 50 percent of registered voters when reducing ballot print runs, with each commission authorized to adjust the figure through its own vote. The minimum had been 60 percent during the 2022 local elections, but the commission lowered the threshold and delegated decisions to individual commissions as more voters shifted to early voting, reducing expected turnout at polling stations on election day itself.

In the report, the National Election Commission acknowledged that "some commissions calculated their ballot printing ratios without properly accounting for past precinct-level turnout figures."

People Power Party lawmaker Kim said the situation called for "fundamental reflection on the structure and operating methods of the election commission system."

It also emerged that the National Election Commission left no official meeting records when it lowered the minimum ballot printing threshold from 60 percent to 50 percent of registered voters.

According to documents obtained by People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon-seog from the National Election Commission, the commission issued its comprehensive management guidelines for the ninth local elections on Dec. 10 last year, setting the new 50 percent floor — down from the previous 60 percent. It formally codified the change through a revision to the "Official Election Procedures Manual" on Dec. 24 of the same year.

The National Election Commission said the comprehensive management guidelines were "compiled from input across departments, processed through internal approval, and then issued to provincial and metropolitan commissions." On the manual revision, it said opinions were gathered from election commissions at various levels, but added that "no separate meeting was held, so no meeting records exist."

The manual states that print volumes "may be adjusted by precinct, taking into account local conditions such as the projected early voting rate." Many local commissions appear to have applied the 50 percent floor uniformly without further adjustment, an approach analysts say contributed to polling being suspended at some stations on election day.

Meanwhile, a court ordered the preservation of four pieces of evidence related to the ballot shortage, including closed-circuit television footage from polling stations in Songpa-gu and a ballot storage box found at the second polling station in Jamsil 7-dong.


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