Investigators from the joint police-prosecution task force conduct a search and seizure at the National Election Commission's integrated election operations center in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on July 11, as part of a probe into a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections. [Newsis]
Investigators from the joint police-prosecution task force conduct a search and seizure at the National Election Commission's integrated election operations center in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on July 11, as part of a probe into a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections. [Newsis]

At least 72 corrections to voter counts reported to the National Election Commission on the day of the June 3 local elections have been identified nationwide. In some areas, a single revision added more than 6,000 voters, and at least one error went uncorrected for 12 hours.

According to a "time-stamped voter-count revision history" submitted by the NEC to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Eun-hye on Monday, election commissions in 56 district, city and county jurisdictions nationwide filed a total of 72 voter-count corrections on election day.

Because there are 255 district, city and county election commissions nationwide, additional corrections not captured in the submitted data may exist.

Under the NEC's comprehensive local election management guidelines, any revision to entries in the election management system must be accompanied by a specific reason and confirmed by the relevant metropolitan or provincial election commission. In practice, however, many reports contained vague or inconsistent justifications — such as "correction due to omission" or "voter count changed" — without adequate detail.

The largest single revision occurred in Incheon's Geomdan-gu, where the reported voter count as of 4 p.m. was revised from 54,665 to 61,276 — an increase of 6,611. The stated reason was that "the total election-day voter count differed after final tallying and saving of precinct-by-precinct reports."

In Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, the noon voter count rose from 15,634 to 19,631, while in Goseong-gun, Gangwon Province, the 11 a.m. figure climbed from 4,392 to 5,639.

Some cases involved straightforward data-entry errors. A polling station in Baekun-dong, Danwon-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, had mistakenly entered 41 voters as 410 before correcting the figure. Gyegok-myeon in Haenam-gun, South Jeolla Province, had entered 84 as 284 before issuing a correction.

Other errors were corrected only after significant delays. Gunpo in Gyeonggi Province fixed a mistake that occurred at 7 a.m. only at 7 p.m. Jincheon-gun in North Chungcheong Province revised its 6 p.m. voter count at 9 p.m. — after polls had already closed.

Some entries were changed multiple times. A polling station in Yonggang-dong, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, revised its voter count from 2,162 to 2,161 before reverting to 2,162. In Sangdang-gu, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, and in Hongseong-gun, South Chungcheong Province, the 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. voter counts had been entered as identical figures and were later corrected.

Under the current system, polling station managers report voter counts by phone to township and village election commissions, which are then aggregated sequentially by district, metropolitan and central election commissions to produce hourly turnout figures.

The joint police-prosecution task force investigating allegations of "voter statistics manipulation" by the NEC is examining whether some jurisdictions adjusted turnout figures by distributing voter counts across multiple entries rather than following standard correction procedures. Investigators have confirmed related allegations in Gimpo and one other area in Gyeonggi Province, as well as parts of the Chungcheong region, and are expanding the probe to other areas.

"Voter turnout — which should be the most basic and accurate figure — was tracked and corrected in a haphazard manner," Kim said. "We need a thorough investigation into how far the flaws in election administration extend. The special prosecutor must investigate without any sacred cows."


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