Exterior of the National Election Commission building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, is pictured on Aug. 7.NEWS1
Final voter counts from the June 3 local elections diverged from on-site tallies by margins as wide as 30 percent in more than half of the country's polling districts, an analysis found Monday.
Nationwide discrepancies of hundreds of voters between on-site tallies and final counts were found in 1,971 of Korea's 3,558 local administrative districts, per the National Elections Commission (NEC) data submitted to Rebuilding Korea Party Rep. Chung Choon-saeng.
In 29 districts, the discrepancy was 100 voters or more, with such cases found across the country, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, North Jeolla, South Chungcheong, Gangwon, North Gyeongsang and Busan.
The final voter count at polling station No. 4 in Gongdo-eup, Anseong, Gyeonggi, was 1,494. That was 611 fewer than the 2,105 recorded as of 6 p.m., a difference of 29 percent.
At polling station No. 1 in Yangji-dong, Sujeong District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, the voter count as of 6 p.m. was 1,358. However, the final tally fell by 316 to 1,042.
Polling station No. 2 in Haengsin 4-dong, Deogyang District, Goyang, Gyeonggi, recorded a final count of 683, compared to 916 earlier.
In some areas, however, final voter counts exceeded the figures tallied at polling sites.
A total of 7,137 voters had been counted as of 6 p.m. in Gwangan 1-dong, Suyeong District, Busan. However, the final tally rose by 785 to 7,922.
At polling stations No. 2 through 5 in Gwangan 1-dong, the voter counts at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on election day were unchanged. In other words, the number of voters showed no increase as polls neared closing time, only for the final tally to rise by nearly 800.
In Bijeon 1-dong, Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, discrepancies of roughly 100 voters were recorded at individual polling stations, which resulted in a combined increase of 348 voters.
Ballot boxes for the June 3 local elections are piled up at Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Jamsil, Songpa District, southern Seoul, on July 2.YONHAP
At polling station No. 7 in Songcheon 2-dong, Deokjin District, Jeonju, North Jeolla, the final voter count increased by 164, equivalent to 17 percent of the 968 voters recorded as of 6 p.m.
In Gaepo 2-dong, Gangnam District, and Garak 2-dong, Songpa District — both in southern Seoul — final voter counts increased by 147 and 98, respectively. Both areas experienced ballot shortages.
In Geoyeo 2-dong, Songpa District, the final count decreased by 102.
On election day, polling station managers manually tally voters and report the numbers to local election commissions, which enter them into a computerized system for review by city- and provincial-level election authorities and theNEC.
Once polls close, officials check the number of unused ballots and report a provisional voter count, while the final turnout is based on the number of ballots counted.
Because the figures are compiled manually, errors can occur before the final turnout is released. However, the discrepancies suggest election officials may have redistributed the figures across other polling stations or reflected them in voter counts reported in later hours instead of simply correcting erroneous entries quickly.
Errors made earlier in the day could have been masked by distributing the figures across other entries. But if an error was discovered shortly before or after polls closed, the numbers might have been adjusted through other means.
The NEC maintains that voter counts reported at different times of the day are provisional and therefore can differ from the actual final number of voters.
BY KIM JI-HYE [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
