Two ballot boxes stranded at polling station after paper shortage protest blocks transfer

Two ballot boxes remained stranded overnight at a polling station in Songpa District, southern Seoul, where a ballot shortage occurred, with protesters blocking their transfer to a vote-counting center.

As of 8 a.m. on Thursday, the day after the June 3 local elections, the ballot boxes remain at Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong. The National Election Commission (NEC) estimates that around 2,000 ballots are in the two boxes.

The election commission said it would refrain from attempting to forcibly remove the ballot boxes because of concerns about physical confrontations with protesters gathered at the site. However, it also stated it had not abandoned plans to transport the ballot boxes, as doing so remains essential to completing the vote count.

"We share the same position as the NEC," the NEC's Seoul office said in a statement released at 4:27 a.m. Thursday. "We will not force the transfer of the ballot boxes from Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong."

The Seoul election commission confirmed the close of voting at about 11:50 p.m. Wednesday. However, the ballot boxes could not be removed overnight as conservative-leaning YouTubers and supporters — around 300 protesters based on an unofficial police estimate — blocked the entrance to the polling station.

The protesters argued that the ballot shortage for the local elections amounted to election fraud and constituted grounds for a new election, staging an overnight demonstration.

Tensions escalated after the NEC announced at around 4 a.m. that the incident did not constitute grounds for postponing the election or holding a new vote. The commission also said suspending the vote count was not possible.

In response, protesters chanted slogans calling for the dissolution of the election commission.

Several political figures also visited the site. People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Kim Jae-sub arrived around midnight, followed by fellow lawmakers Kim Eun-hye and Shin Dong-wook. They urged the crowd to avoid physical confrontations.

At the same time, the PPP lawmakers strongly criticized the NEC and the Seoul election commission, accusing the two bodies of shifting responsibility for the administrative failure onto each other.

Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the Freedom and Innovation Party, joined the scene at around 3:40 a.m. and observed the standoff.

Polling Station No. 2 in Jamsil 7-dong, located at the senior citizens' center of Woosung Apartment, ran out of ballot papers on the day of the local elections, triggering the unprecedented situation that led to the current deadlock.

The election commission extended voting until 10 p.m. Wednesday for voters who had lined up before the 6 p.m. deadline and received waiting slips.

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.

BY KO SEUNG-PYO [[email protected]]