Discrepancies found between final voter figures and on-site tallies in June 3 local elections

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- Discrepancies have been found between final voter figures and on-site tallies from the June 3 local elections, data acquired by a lawmaker showed Monday, amid a widening probe into irregularities surrounding the elections.

Such discrepancies were found in 1,971 neighborhoods out of the total 3,558 across the nation for the local elections, according to the National Election Commission (NEC) data submitted to Rep. Chung Choon-saeng of the minor Rebuilding Korea Party.

The NEC data indicated that discrepancies of at least 100 people were reported in 29 neighborhoods, including in Seoul, the southeastern port city of Busan and Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital.

In light of the latest discrepancies, investigators are looking into the possibility whether election officials manipulated data even after voting ended.

Under the current system, polling station workers manually check the number of voters on election day, which is then reported to the election watchdog. Once voting ends, the final turnout is determined by the number of cast votes.

According to the NEC data, a polling station in Anseong, just south of Seoul, had tallied 2,105 voters as of 6 p.m., when polls closed, compared with the final count of 1,494.

A polling station in Busan reported 7,137 voters at closing time, but the final tally stood at 7,922.

The revelations come as a joint prosecution-police team investigating ballot shortages on election day has found signs that NEC officials arbitrarily manipulated hourly voter turnout updates to cover up potential errors.

The NEC has maintained that its hourly turnout updates are tentative figures and that discrepancies with actual voter figures are inevitable.

During a hearing of a parliamentary special committee investigating the ballot shortages, the NEC claimed that such discrepancies do not affect the final voter count or the election results.

The commission proposed adopting a sample-based system to estimate voter turnout, saying human error cannot be ruled out under the current system of manually counting the number of voters from all 14,288 polling stations nationwide.

It said it will also consider releasing the turnout rate every two hours, instead of every hour, to allow election officials more time to verify the figures.