The truth-finding committee on the ballot paper shortage case handed over the investigation to the joint investigation headquarters of the prosecution and police.

The baton was handed over to the Joint Investigation Headquarters of the Prosecutors' Office and the Police (Joint Headquarters) as the Truth-Finding Committee on the Ballot Paper Shortage situation announced the results of an investigation that found responsibility for the overall inadequacy of the election management system should be held.

In a briefing on the 19th, Cho Hyun-wook, chairman of the Truth Investigation Committee, recommended an investigation into a total of 12 people, including former National Election Commission Chairman Roh Tae-ak, standing member Wi Cheol-hwan, former Secretary-General Heo Cheol-hoon, Deputy Secretary-General Kang Dong-wan, and former Election Policy Director Yoon Jae-soo.

According to the findings of the fact-finding committee, it was revealed that the guideline to reduce the number of ballot paper printings was hastily decided upon by the Secretary-General.

In particular, the National Election Commission in Songpa-gu, Seoul, where the shortage of ballot papers was the most serious, decided to reduce printing through written resolution without meeting minutes. In a situation where there was a shortage of ballots, the reporting system was paralyzed and a one-size-fits-all response was implemented.

The joint edition receives the results of the investigation by the Truth Investigation Committee.

Since the 11th, the headquarters has searched and seized the National Election Commission, etc., citing charges of violation of Article 237 (obstruction of freedom of elections) and Article 85 (prohibition of public officials from participating in elections) of the Public Official Election Act in the warrant.

This is a provision that punishes cases where the freedom of elections is interfered with through illegal means, or when public officials exercise undue influence on elections in relation to their duties or by using their positions.

The report believes that the lack of ballots constitutes an act of 'interfering with freedom of election' as substantial damage occurred, such as delaying voting or giving up voting for some voters.

However, the position is that further consideration should be given as to whether the National Election Commission's hasty decision can be considered an 'unfair method' under the Public Official Election Act.

Existing precedents have recognized that the freedom of elections has been hindered when direct physical force, such as assault, is used against election officials or voters to prevent them from campaigning or voting.

The incident that paralyzed the polling place search function on the National Election Commission website due to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack during the 2011 by-election was also judged to be an interference with freedom of elections.

If it is proven that the National Election Commission hastily decided to reduce printing without sufficient review in a situation where a shortage of ballot papers could be foreseen, it could be viewed as a 'corrupt method'.

The joint edition also plans to examine whether the National Election Commission's decision to reduce printing and subsequent delayed response can be viewed as an 'exercise of unfair influence in relation to duties.'

In the legal world, many believe that it is difficult to apply a ban on participation in elections or charges of dereliction of duty in cases of simple work-related deficiencies or negligence that cannot be proven as intentional.

In addition, problems arising from the additional delivery of ballot papers are expected to be the subject of a joint investigation.

The Public Official Election Act stipulates that ballots and ballot boxes must be sent to the National Election Commission by the ‘day before’ the election day, and serial numbers must be ‘printed’ on the ballot papers.

The act of the National Election Commission distributing additional ballots on the day of voting and writing serial numbers on late-distributed ballots by hand may itself be a violation of the Public Official Election Act.

The joint investigation plan plans to look into whether there were any violations of the law in the decision-making process, such as extending voting hours at polling places where there was a shortage of ballot papers and making the decision to start counting votes.

On this day, the report summoned two people, including a voting manager at a polling place in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, as witnesses and investigated them. An investigation of witnesses for voting managers is also scheduled for the 20th.

After reconstructing the situation at the polling place with a focus on working-level officials, it is expected that the investigation will continue into higher-ups, including officials of the National Election Commission.

An official from Hapsubbon said, “We need to check the process by which the actual ballot paper reduction was reported,” and added, “We are sequentially calling in people in charge of voting management to understand the situation on the day of the election.”