Election commission cut ballot printing threshold without formal meeting, documents show

The National Election Commission lowered the minimum ballot printing threshold from 60 percent to 50 percent of registered voters ahead of the June 3 local elections without holding a formal meeting, relying instead on the sole approval of two internal officials, it has emerged.

Documents obtained by People Power Party lawmakers Kim Seung-su and Kim Min-jeon from the National Election Commission show the commission revised its "9th Nationwide Simultaneous Local Elections Comprehensive Management Guidelines" on Dec. 10 last year, cutting the minimum ballot printing ratio through the secretary-general's sole authorization, with no separate meeting convened.

On Dec. 24 of the same month, the director of the election policy division revised the "Official Election Procedures Manual" to reflect the same change, again without a formal meeting.

Acting under those guidelines, the Songpa-gu election commission set the ballot printing ratio at 50 percent for 25 of its administrative districts, excluding Jamsil 3-dong and 4-dong.

Songpa-gu, where the ballot shortage occurred, recorded a turnout of 65.8 percent — 2.2 percentage points above Seoul's average of 63.6 percent and the fourth highest among Seoul's 25 autonomous districts, behind Seocho, Seongdong and Yangcheon-gu.

The National Election Commission said the minimum ballot printing threshold has been progressively reduced, from 80 percent in 2009 to 70 percent in 2016 and 60 percent in 2021.

The commission said the reductions were driven by rising early voting rates, difficulty securing printing facilities within tight timeframes, challenges in inspecting and storing millions of ballots, and concerns about losing leftover ballots.

It also said that printing an excessive number of ballots relative to actual turnout on election day could invite allegations of electoral fraud.

However, the commission not only failed to prepare a sufficient number of ballots but also had no guidelines for handling a shortage — including no procedures or division of responsibilities in the event one occurred.

The commission acknowledged it lost valuable response time due to the absence of serial numbering by election type, criteria for issuing additional ballots, and distribution procedures.

It also said delayed reporting of the incident was partly attributable to small teams of six to 13 people handling multiple tasks simultaneously — including polling management, mail ballot processing and vote counting — within a compressed timeframe, which prevented immediate escalation.

In response, People Power Party lawmaker Lee Seong-kwon said the commission's non-binding 50 percent guideline was "the primary cause of this crisis" and announced plans to introduce legislation — dubbed the "Anti-Suffrage Infringement Prevention Act" — that would codify a legal basis for the minimum ballot quantity and require the commission to establish a rapid decision-making framework for ballot shortage contingencies.

According to the commission, ballot shortages occurred at 91 polling stations nationwide: 42 in Seoul, 23 in Gyeonggi Province, 11 in Incheon, four in Daegu, three in Busan, two each in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province and South Jeolla Province, and one each in North Chungcheong Province and North Jeolla Province.

The total number of missing ballots has also grown. The initial figure reported was 4,726, but new data submitted to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Jeong Hui-yong on Tuesday put the number at 7,194.

Voting was suspended for up to 105 minutes at affected polling stations, and the exact duration of the suspension at three Songpa-gu stations remains unclear.

잠실 투표용지 상자 사라졌다…용지 부족 사태 핵심 물증 확보 ‘난항’

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