PPP lawmaker alleges election commission pre-entered voter counts at 117 precincts

People Power Party lawmaker Ju Jin-woo said Sunday that the National Election Commission appears to have entered voter counts for some precincts ahead of the actual tallying time in the June 3 local elections, last year's presidential election and the 2024 general election.

Speaking at a press conference at the National Assembly, Ju said an examination of NEC log records showed that voter counts at 117 precincts were entered more than 90 minutes before the designated reporting time during the hourly turnout update process.

According to Ju, during the June 3 local elections, the 1 p.m. voter counts for three precincts in Haan 4-dong, Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province were entered at around 11:28 a.m. — roughly 91 minutes before the scheduled tallying point.

In last year's presidential election, he said, the 4 p.m. voter counts for three precincts in Jungnim-dong, Seoul were entered at around 2:31 p.m. During the 2024 general election, the 6 p.m. counts for two precincts in Namil-myeon, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province were entered at around 4:30 p.m., he added.

Ju said the pattern was found across a total of 117 precincts — 47 in the local elections, 26 in the presidential election and 44 in the general election. He also noted cases where multiple precincts in different towns and villages shared identical initial entry times, raising the possibility that NEC staff had entered data for several polling stations at once.

He further said numerous instances were found where "0" was entered repeatedly before the actual tallying time, and where identical figures were entered for different polling stations.

On the basis of these findings, Ju dismissed the possibility of simple data-entry errors and said an investigation into the NEC's voter turnout entry process was necessary.

"The joint investigation headquarters should not limit its probe to the local elections but expand it to cover the voter turnout entry process in the presidential and general elections as well," he said. "A special prosecutor and parliamentary investigation must be used to thoroughly uncover the truth behind these allegations."