South Korea Election Official Admits 'Painful Mistake' in Vote Shortage

South Korea's Central Election Management Committee (CEMC) Acting Chairman Wei Zhe-hwan stated on June 11 that the overall shortage of ballots in the local elections was a "painful mistake" in distribution, despite there being a surplus of about 42,000 ballots in Seoul's Songpa District.

The local elections on June 3rd experienced a ballot shortage, with Songpa District being the most severely affected. Fifteen polling stations in the district ran out of ballots, and voting was temporarily suspended at 12 of them.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Wei Zhe-hwan explained that the ratio of ballots printed for the official voting day was set at 50% after deducting the advance voting rate of 23.3% for Songpa District. When the advance voting is included, the overall ballot printing ratio was actually 73.3%, and the final voting rate in Songpa District was 65.8%.

Wei Zhe-hwan declared, "It was a painful mistake that we failed to properly distribute the ballots to the 146 polling stations in Songpa District." He clarified that while the CEMC lowered the minimum printing ratio for the official voting day to 50%, the actual printing ratio was determined by the 255 local election management committees nationwide, taking into account local conditions and characteristics.

Regarding the reason for setting the minimum ballot printing ratio at 50%, Wei Zhe-hwan pointed out that after the previous election, the number of leftover ballots increased, posing difficulties in counting and storing millions of ballots, and raising concerns about loss or theft. "Especially when too many ballots are printed, the election management committee has been constantly questioned by the public about election fraud."

Wei Zhe-hwan added, "We deeply apologize again for the infringement of citizens' right to participate in politics. We are fully aware that even the voting rights of a single person being violated is unacceptable, and we will continue to take follow-up measures."

The election commission also appealed to the protestors who had been blocking the entrance to the Olympic Park Handball Arena in Songpa District for a week to protest the ballot shortage, urging them to allow the transport of election-related materials.

Kang Dong-wan, Acting Secretary-General of the CEMC, stated, "We implore the public for their assistance so that the election-related materials stored at the Songpa District polling station can be smoothly transported to the election management committee."

Kang Dong-wan emphasized that the retrieved election-related materials would be stored securely and that they would cooperate honestly with the ongoing investigation and any future parliamentary investigations.

Kang Dong-wan also mentioned, "The Handball Arena is a public cultural space that frequently hosts performances and sporting events, and it should be restored to its original function."