Another election blunder by the NEC

The failures of Korea’s National Election Commission (NEC) continue to mount. Following the recent ballot shortage controversy, election officials have now acknowledged that information regarding the Jeonbuk superintendent of education election was submitted incorrectly. 

According to the Jeonbuk NEC, results from polling station No. 3 in Jungwhasan 1-dong, Wansan District, Jeonju, were mistakenly recorded as those from polling station No. 1. As a result, the vote totals from station No. 3 were counted twice, and the results from station No. 1 were omitted. Although the error — affecting 1,104 voters — did not change the outcome of the race, it exposed an alarming lack of basic administrative care.

Public anger has deepened as more details emerge about the ballot shortage incident. On Wednesday, acting NEC Chairman Wi Cheol-hwan disclosed that more than 42,000 ballots remained unused across Songpa District, southern Seoul. But voters at 14 polling stations in the district were unable to cast ballots properly because those locations ran out of ballot papers.

Wi apologized, describing the failure to distribute ballots properly among Songpa’s 146 polling stations as a serious mistake. He also explained that the commission had lowered the printing ratio for Election Day ballots from 60 percent to 50 percent due to rising early-voting rates.

The explanation raises an obvious question: Was reducing printing costs considered more important than protecting citizens’ voting rights?

There is also concern that the problems uncovered so far may represent only part of a broader pattern of mismanagement. During the 2024 National Assembly election, the election commission in Yeongtong District, Suwon, corrected vote totals after reclassifying some ballots from invalid to valid. However, it neither announced nor corrected the figures publicly, informing the affected candidate only more than two months later.

Lee Soo-jung, the People Power Party candidate who lost that race, later said election officials admitted they had entered the figures incorrectly and apologized in person.

Such careless administration falls far short of the standards expected of a constitutional institution responsible for safeguarding democracy.

The full truth behind these failures, which have undermined confidence in the electoral process and damaged citizens’ voting rights, must be established and those responsible held accountable. Police have searched NEC offices and the National Assembly has begun procedures for a parliamentary investigation.

At the same time, politicians from both ruling and opposition parties should avoid exploiting the controversy for partisan purposes or linking it to election-fraud conspiracy theories. Public anger is unlikely to tolerate either form of political opportunism.