Internal criticism emerges over NEC secretariat's unilateral ballot-printing cut

By Joo So-hyun, The Herald Business

An internal critic at the National Election Commission raised concerns in the early hours after the June 3 local elections and by-elections — in which a ballot shortage left some voters unable to cast ballots — saying the secretariat's unilateral decision to lower the ballot-printing floor was fundamentally improper and should have gone through the full commission.

An amendment to election management rules reducing the minimum ballot-printing ratio for local election day from 60 percent to 50 percent had been reported to the NEC at a meeting last year but passed without substantive discussion. The internal criticism over procedure surfaced only after the crisis broke out.

According to the minutes of the NEC's 11th plenary session, obtained by the office of Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Hae-sik from the NEC on Wednesday, an anonymous commissioner said, "It is a serious problem if some citizens are unable to vote or their exercise of suffrage is delayed due to a ballot shortage," adding that a decision of such magnitude should not have been carried out by the secretariat without deliberation by the full commission.

The meeting ran from 12:38 a.m. to 1:50 a.m. on June 4, the day after the main election day, and took up a report on measures to address the ballot shortage. Five commissioners attended, including former NEC Chairman Roh Tae-ak and standing commissioner Wi Cheol-hwan, while two were absent.

The same commissioner noted that under the NEC's internal delegation rules, important amendments require the secretary-general's approval while routine matters are handled at the bureau director level, and said the amendment had been distributed to field offices under that process.

The cover page of a review document on amendments to election management rules, reported at the NEC's 15th plenary session on Nov. 24 last year, listed under the heading "Reduction of ballot-printing ratio" a change from 70 percent — 60 percent for local elections — to 60 percent, or 50 percent for local elections. Roh asked at the time whether anyone had questions or comments on the reported items, but the meeting moved on to the next agenda item without discussion. The reduced ballot-printing guideline was subsequently put into effect in December last year through approvals by the secretary-general and the head of the election policy bureau.

Roh appeared before the National Assembly's parliamentary investigation on Tuesday and gave inconsistent answers about the reported change to the printing floor. He acknowledged that the change had been processed through the secretary-general's approval, saying "that is my understanding," but on whether he had been briefed in advance, he said there "probably was a brief report" while also indicating he had no memory of receiving one.

The pre-dawn NEC meeting also produced criticism that a failure in the reporting chain among the NEC, the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission and the Songpa-gu Election Commission had worsened the ballot shortage. The same commissioner said, "When the Songpa-gu commission first anticipated a ballot shortage, it contacted the Seoul Metropolitan commission at around 11:40 a.m., but the failure to report up to the central commission reflects a breakdown in the chain of command between upper and lower commissions — and I believe that worsened this crisis."

Lee said the meeting minutes make clear "that the ballot shortage was not a simple on-the-ground mistake but an organizational failure in which the reporting and command structure did not function properly," and called on the NEC to "clearly account to the public for the decision-making processes and reporting systems across the entire organization."