Ballot verification at Olympic Park enters 7th hour, about half complete

The National Election Commission special prosecutor team led by Lee Tae-han continued a large-scale public verification of about 2.47 million ballots from the June 3 local elections at the handball arena in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. The process, which began around noon, entered its seventh hour with roughly half of the ballots reviewed.

The special prosecutor team said it began inspecting the quantity and print condition of ballots stored at Olympic Park at around 11:50 a.m. Wednesday, in the presence of observers, and is also checking whether sorting machines and other equipment have been hacked.

A total of 96 observers attended the public verification at the handball arena, including 45 nominees of the Democratic Party, 40 nominees of the People Power Party, five nominees of the Rebuilding Korea Party and six staff members of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee.

The team has so far examined, ballot by ballot, the quantity and marking and print condition of votes cast in the Seoul mayoral race, the Songpa-gu district chief race, and constituency-level Seoul Metropolitan Council and Songpa-gu council races, setting aside any ballots suspected of irregularities. The team plans to count the remaining proportional-representation ballots for the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Songpa-gu council and Seoul superintendent of education races, then use optical equipment on-site to conduct additional verification of the flagged irregular ballots.

The public verification was estimated to be about halfway complete as of Wednesday evening.

The team had originally planned to begin at around 9 a.m. Wednesday, but PPP observers strongly objected to a ban on filming, delaying the start by roughly three hours. People Power Party Supreme Council member Kim Min-su and others protested for about 30 minutes, arguing that the verification was not being conducted properly given the NEC's involvement.

Some observers attempted to film with their mobile phones or tried to use equipment they had brought themselves, prompting officials to intervene and causing brief disturbances, though no major clashes have occurred.

Irregular ballots requiring detailed forensic examination will be used in the special prosecutor team's investigation. Ballots in which no irregularities are found will be transferred to a secure storage facility separately designated by the NEC.

Some observers have maintained that they cannot trust the NEC to manage the ballots, a stance expected to remain a complicating factor until the public verification concludes.