NEC acting chief calls ballot shortage in Songpa-gu 'painful mistake,' says 42,000 ballots were left unused across district

Wi Cheol-hwan, acting chairman of the National Election Commission, said Thursday that more than 42,000 ballots had remained unused across Songpa-gu in Seoul during the June 3 local elections, even as some polling stations in the district ran out of ballots.

Wi issued a statement that day, calling the failure to distribute ballots properly among the district's 146 polling stations "a deeply painful mistake."

"I again apologize for the infringement of citizens' right to vote," he said. "We will respond with the firm recognition that not a single person's right to vote may be violated."

Wi also addressed questions about the 50 percent print ratio for Election Day ballots, saying the figure excludes the early voting turnout of 23.3 percent.

"The total ballot print ratio, including early voting, was 73.3 percent," he said. "Songpa-gu's overall turnout was 65.8 percent."

On the decision to set the minimum print ratio at 50 percent, Wi said the commission had faced growing difficulties after previous elections left millions of unused ballots that were costly to inspect and store, and posed risks of loss or theft. "Printing an excessive number of ballots, in particular, subjected us to persistent allegations of election fraud," he said.

He added that the commission had lowered the minimum print ratio to 50 percent while allowing each of the country's 255 district-level election commissions to set its own ratio based on local conditions.

A joint police-prosecution task force investigating the ballot shortage launched simultaneous search and seizure operations at the NEC and regional election commissions Thursday — eight days after the shortage first emerged.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's wide-area investigation unit, operating under the direction of prosecutors from the joint task force, began searches at 9 a.m. at seven locations: the NEC headquarters in Gwacheon, the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission, and the district election commissions of Songpa-gu, Seocho-gu, Gangnam-gu, Gwangjin-gu and Dongjak-gu, all areas affected by the ballot shortage. The searches are being conducted on suspicion of violations of the Public Official Election Act, dereliction of duty, and occupational embezzlement and breach of trust.

Police deployed more than 100 personnel for the operation, including officers from the wide-area investigation unit, the National Investigation Headquarters and digital forensics specialists from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Three prosecutors and about 10 investigators from the joint task force also took part in the searches.

The search warrants named more than 10 suspects, including former NEC Chairman Noh Tae-wook, former Secretary General Heo Cheol-hun, and the chairpersons and secretaries-general of the affected district election commissions.

The task force plans to investigate whether those named violated Article 85 of the Public Official Election Act, which prohibits civil servants from interfering in elections, and Article 237, which covers obstruction of electoral freedom.

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