Ballot shortfalls at polling stations date back to last presidential, general elections, records show

The National Election Commission failed to provide sufficient ballots and polling stations during last year's 21st presidential election and the 2024 22nd general election as well, newly released records show.

According to ballot printing data submitted to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Min-jeon on Friday, 9,284 of the 14,295 polling stations — 64.9 percent — fell short of the threshold requiring ballots to be printed for at least 70 percent of registered voters during the presidential election.

By region, Gyeonggi Province had the most shortfalls at 2,401 stations, followed by Seoul with 2,063, South Gyeongsang Province with 578 and Busan with 482. Gyeonggi Province and Seoul together accounted for nearly half of all deficient stations nationwide.

The problem was even more widespread during the 2024 general election, when 10,049 of 14,259 stations — 70.5 percent — fell below the 70 percent threshold. Gyeonggi Province again led with 2,620 stations, followed by Seoul with 2,157, South Gyeongsang Province with 650 and North Gyeongsang Province with 649, with shortfalls again concentrated in the greater Seoul area.

Songpa-gu in Seoul — where voting was suspended at multiple stations during this month's local elections due to ballot shortages — saw all 143 of its polling stations fall below the threshold during the presidential election and all 144 during the general election. The district had consistently prepared ballots at below-standard rates across successive elections.

The recurring shortfalls stem from a longstanding practice of printing ballots in units of 100. Under NEC administrative guidelines, stations with 1,000 or more registered voters must round down any figure below 100 when calculating the 70 percent print quota. That means the actual print ratio can fall below the benchmark whenever the calculation does not land on a clean multiple of 100.

In practice, however, the rule was applied inconsistently. Among stations with 1,000 or more registered voters, 3,389 during the presidential election and 2,882 during the general election rounded up rather than down when the figure fell below 100.

The same guideline was applied one way at some stations and the opposite way at others. Analysts say the structural failure to meet the 70 percent standard has persisted across past elections; it only became visible during this month's local elections when the minimum threshold was lowered to 50 percent.

The NEC had long maintained a minimum print ratio of 70 percent of registered voters for in-person ballots before lowering it to 50 percent for this election, citing higher early voting rates and lower public interest in local elections compared with presidential or general elections.

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