[Photo Credit: Korea-US Daily Graphic]

Table of Contents

① A National Investigation Without Eyewitness Testimony is like a 'Red Bean Bun Without the Red Bean Filling'

② The Full Picture of the June 3rd Election Management that the National Investigation Must Uncover

③ Constitutional Amendment is a Long-Term Task; The Treason Trial Act Should Be Applied

The National Election Commission's Truth Finding Committee concluded that the election management of the June 3rd local elections was a "total failure."

According to the self-investigation results released by the Election Commission on the 19th, additional ballot papers were sent to 140 out of 14,288 polling stations nationwide, actually used at 91 stations, and voting was temporarily suspended at 26 stations. There was a shortage of 7,194 ballot papers, and the suspension time ranged from a minimum of 4 minutes to a maximum of 105 minutes.

However, this is not the conclusion of the national investigation, but its starting point. It is necessary to go beyond the figures confirmed by the Election Commission's self-investigation to reveal who made such decisions, what happened at the scene, and consequently, how many voters were disenfranchised.

Who Reduced the 60% to 50%?

The first agenda item is the decision-making process for lowering the minimum printing standard for ballot papers from the previous 60% to 50%.

According to reports based on data submitted by the Election Commission to the National Assembly, this standard change was processed through internal approval by the Secretary-General and the Director of Election Policy, without an official meeting of the Central Committee in December 2025. While the intention was to reduce leftover ballot papers and prevent unnecessary suspicion, guidelines for responding to ballot paper shortages were not properly prepared.

The Special Committee for National Investigation must identify who first proposed the 50% figure and its statistical basis. It also needs to confirm whether analyses were conducted on the voter turnout rates for early voting and regular voting by region, the proportion of the elderly population, and the fluctuations in voter turnout by election.

It is also important to understand why the printing standard, which can affect citizens' voting rights, was processed through internal approval by the secretariat rather than the Central Committee. If Chairman Noh Tae-hak did not receive the report, it means the reporting system collapsed. If he received the report and did not take action, the responsibility for management remains.

The Whereabouts of Unnumbered Ballots and Serial Numbers

The second agenda item concerns the continuity of management from the printing of ballot papers to their use and collection.

In Songpa District, reserve ballots without numbers, which should have been prepared according to regulations, were not distributed sufficiently. After a shortage occurred, staff hastily wrote serial numbers and sent them to the field. It was also reported that due to the urgency of the situation, some ballots were sent without serial numbers being written, leading to confusion as numbers were handwritten at the scene.

The Special Committee for National Investigation must link all additional ballot papers to their printed quantity, serial number, custodian, dispatch time, transporter, vehicle, recipient, quantity used, remaining quantity, and return status.

While it is not necessary to use the term "chain of custody" as used in criminal evidence management, the principle that the record of the entire process, including who received and transferred how many sheets when, must be continuous and unbroken is the same.

If ballots were brought from other polling stations, it must be matched to how many were from which station and what the remaining quantity was at that station. Ballot boxes must also have their sealing time and seal number, transporter, accompanying observer, vehicle route, and receipt and opening times at the counting station confirmed.

An election is not a process where trust is secured simply by the final numbers matching. The entire process, from the moment the ballots are produced until the results are confirmed, must be recorded.

Why Did the Communication Network, Checked Three Times, Stop?

The third agenda item concerns the early voting communication network and voter authentication devices.

A whistleblower, who identified himself as a current Election Commission employee, claimed to have witnessed an incident at an early voting site where a communication equipment failure occurred, leading to the use of Wi-Fi to connect and operate voter authentication terminals.

While these are not yet confirmed facts, given the claims of specific locations and the existence of internal KakaoTalk records, this is a matter that the national investigation must verify.

The Special Committee must obtain records of the time of wired network failure and its cause, the type of wireless access equipment, the person who initiated the connection, connection logs between the voter authentication terminal and the server, and remote access records from the maintenance company.

It must be determined through technical appraisal whether general Wi-Fi was used or if field staff referred to a separate wireless communication device managed by the Election Commission as Wi-Fi. This is not a matter of choosing between the Election Commission's explanation or the whistleblower's claims beforehand. Connection logs and equipment should provide the answers.

Regarding the voter authentication devices, for which hundreds of millions of won were spent to replace just before the general election, the purpose of adoption, performance tests, on-site inspections, and any failure records on election day must all be confirmed. If confusion occurred in voter authentication and communication despite replacing the equipment, the responsibility for procurement and inspection must also be investigated.

Was It Appropriate to Proceed with Counting While Voting Was Extended?

At polling station #2 in Jamsil 7-dong, voting was extended until 10 p.m. for voters who received waiting tickets due to a shortage of ballot papers. At the same time, counting and counting broadcasts were taking place in other areas.

While this cannot be immediately concluded as illegal, it is necessary to examine how the fact that some voters continued to cast their ballots while counting results were being released in real-time could have affected the fairness of the election and the voting process.

It is necessary to confirm who decided to extend the voting period and consulted with the National Election Commission, on what basis voting eligibility was granted to the remaining voters, whether the fact that counting was in progress was communicated to the field, and how the late-arriving ballot boxes were sorted and stored.

In particular, if counting began while voting was still ongoing, the voting end time, the counting start time, and the ballot box receipt and opening times must be matched to the minute.

Are There Only 12 Actual Victims?

The Election Commission's investigation confirmed that 12 voters who received waiting tickets at polling station #2 in Jamsil 7-dong did not vote. However, this number does not represent the full scale of disenfranchisement.

It is difficult to confirm solely from existing records the number of people who left the line after being told there were no ballot papers, those who went home without waiting for a long time, those who did not receive waiting tickets, and those who did not know that voting had resumed.

Therefore, a comprehensive comparison must be made of the number of voters by time at the 26 polling stations where voting was suspended, the integrated voter roll confirmation records, waiting ticket issuance and return records, CCTV footage, and records of complaints and reports. If necessary, fact-finding surveys should be conducted on voters in the relevant areas.

The Questions This National Investigation Must Answer Are Not Complicated.

> Who reduced the number of ballot papers?

> Who knew about the risk of shortage and neglected it?

> What irregularities and illegalities occurred at the scene?

> As a result, how many citizens were unable to vote?

While issues of the Election Commission's discipline, such as overseas trips or evasive leaves of absence, can also be investigated, bringing these issues to the forefront could blur the direct line of responsibility for the disenfranchisement incident.

First, the decisions and actions on election day, the movement and management of ballots and ballot boxes, and the actual extent of the damage must be determined. That is the essence of the national investigation.