Ballot boxes with 2,000 votes blocked at Jamsil polling station in Seoul

About 2,000 votes remain uncounted at a polling station in Songpa-gu, Seoul, after demonstrators blocked election officials from removing ballot boxes amid a ballot shortage that disrupted voting during Thursday's local elections.

The National Election Commission said it has been unable to remove two ballot boxes from Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong, which it estimates contain roughly 2,000 votes.

The station was one of several where ballots ran out — an unprecedented occurrence — prompting officials to extend the voting deadline from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. for voters who had already received their ballot stub.

As of 7 a.m. Thursday, about 200 people — including conservative-leaning YouTubers and other citizens — had surrounded the entrance to the polling station, set up inside a senior center at the Woosung apartment complex in Songpa-gu, and were continuing their protest.

The Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission officially confirmed the close of voting at around 11:50 p.m. Wednesday but has been unable to transfer the two ballot boxes to the counting center for more than seven hours since.

The commission said it would not force the transfer out of concern over potential physical confrontations.

The standoff continued into the morning, though the crowd thinned as some demonstrators left for work. Police estimated informally that around 300 people had gathered the previous night.

Police deployed up to 470 personnel to the scene, including officers from the local precinct and riot units. Riot police advanced to the entrance of the polling station at one point but pulled back outside the apartment complex, citing public safety concerns.

The crowd was made up primarily of men in their 20s and 30s. Demonstrators waved South Korean flags and held signs reading "Stop the count immediately," chanting allegations of election fraud.

Several People Power Party lawmakers — including Kim Jae-seop, Kim Eun-hye and Shin Dong-wook — visited the scene overnight. Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the Liberty and Innovation Party, who has raised allegations of election fraud, also arrived and remained with the protesters outside the polling station.

At the scene, Hwang declared the June 3 local elections "null and void from the outset" and demanded a halt to the count, saying a new election should be held only after the possibility of vote manipulation had been ruled out.