Ballot shortage mars local elections, eroding trust in election commission

Wednesday's local elections were badly tarnished by an unprecedented ballot shortage at polling stations across the country. The National Election Commission issued a public apology and repeatedly bowed in contrition, but the latest failure deepened a growing crisis of confidence in the body's competence and authority. In a statement released early Thursday, the NEC said it "sincerely apologizes for the great confusion and inconvenience caused to voters who visited certain polling stations on June 3 and were unable to exercise their right to vote due to a shortage of ballots."

The shortages emerged Wednesday afternoon at polling stations in Seoul's Songpa-gu and other areas, forcing voters to wait as officials scrambled to obtain additional ballots. At the second polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, voting was extended until 10 p.m. Wednesday. Tensions flared when NEC officials attempted to remove ballot boxes from the affected stations, triggering a standoff between citizens trying to block the removal and police and NEC staff.

The NEC said it "feels a profound sense of responsibility for having caused great disappointment and concern to voters who took precious time out of their day to come to the polls and participate in democracy, only to be let down by the commission's own mistakes." Secretary-General Heo Cheol-hun had already issued a separate public apology on behalf of the commission late Wednesday night.

The commission also said it "has decided to make every possible effort to investigate the cause of this incident and establish measures to prevent a recurrence as soon as vote counting is complete." It added that it "once again apologizes for failing to ensure the smooth exercise of voters' right to vote, and promises to fully disclose the causes and remedies to the public and ensure that such an incident never happens again."

The NEC drew a firm line, however, against calls from opposition parties and others for the election to be postponed or rerun. "The ballot shortage at certain polling stations on election day does not constitute grounds for postponing or rerunning the election under the Public Official Election Act," it said. It added that halting the ongoing vote count was therefore not permissible, and that ballot boxes from the affected stations must be transferred to counting centers so that the votes cast there could be tallied.

The People Power Party reacted with fury. PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok held an emergency press conference Wednesday night, declaring that "this Seoul election was one in which voters' right to vote and right to political participation were seriously violated." He called the Seoul results "tainted" and demanded an immediate halt to counting, saying the Seoul election must be rerun depending on the findings of an investigation.

The Democratic Party of Korea also called for the NEC to be held accountable. Party Secretary-General Jo Seung-rae said the matter "cannot be brushed aside with a simple apology" and that "those responsible for the shoddy management of the election must be held accountable — we must find out why ballots were managed so poorly and ensure responsibility is assigned even after the fact." The Democratic Party, however, aligned itself with the NEC in dismissing calls for a postponement or rerun as not worth considering.

The incident has reignited longstanding criticism of the NEC's ability to run elections. During the 2022 presidential election, the commission drew ridicule — dubbed the "basket ballot" controversy — after it transported early ballots cast by COVID-19 patients and those in quarantine in makeshift wicker containers. During last year's presidential election, voters standing in line at a Seoul polling station were seen receiving their ballots and then leaving to eat before returning, prompting another apology. "It is frustrating that the NEC keeps giving ammunition to those who claim elections are rigged," a ruling party official said.