On the 23rd, ahead of a plenary session of the Special Committee for the Investigation of Violations of Citizens' Right to Participate in Elections, including the ballot paper shortage incident, at the National Assembly, Noh Tae-ak, former Chairman of the National Election Commission, and Wi Cheol-hwan, acting Chairman of the National Election Commission, are seen in conversation. [Yonhap News] 

The National Election Commission (NEC), which is undergoing major reforms due to the so-called ballot paper shortage incident, has proposed its own reform measures, including the introduction of a full-time chairman system, legalizing an audit body, and establishing an independent election management evaluation committee within the National Assembly.

In addition, it also mentioned measures such as ▲ legalizing a government-wide support system ▲ operating a national election support promotion consultative body ▲ and a complete re-examination of ballot paper printing ratios.

The NEC reported to the "Special Committee for the Investigation of Violations of Citizens' Right to Participate in Elections and Election Management Reform" on the 23rd, stating, "We will devise all institutional improvement measures that can strengthen the fairness and accountability of elections, and we will actively prepare and implement our own improvement measures that can be immediately pursued even before legislation."

The NEC first announced that as part of its self-improvement measures, it would comprehensively review the ballot paper printing ratio, which caused the shortage incident, and systematically improve the overall management of ballot papers, including securing printing companies and managing printing, storage, distribution, and post-management.

It also stated that when establishing or changing major policies related to election management, it would conduct a risk assessment in advance through review by a deliberation committee composed of external experts.

In this regard, the NEC self-assessed the cause of the ballot paper shortage in the June 3 local elections, stating that the response was insufficient, including identifying the remaining ballot papers at each polling station given the increasing voter turnout on election day, and that timely responses were not possible due to the lack of detailed response manuals.

On June 3, the main voting day for the June 3 local elections, confusion occurred at polling station 6 in Jamsil 2-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, as voters waited due to a shortage of ballot papers. A citizen is showing a waiting ticket, indicating that voting is possible in order after the polling hours. [Yonhap News] As for legislative and policy-level improvements, the NEC proposed measures such as strengthening decision-making expertise and accountability through the introduction of a full-time chairman system and a multiple standing committee system, and establishing a preliminary "Election Management Evaluation Committee" under the standing committee of the National Assembly to independently evaluate election management.

In addition, it announced plans to legalize the NEC's audit committee, which is currently a deliberative body under the rules, into an independent deliberative decision-making body, and to strengthen its independence by including external members, such as recommendations from political parties, in the composition of the audit committee.

The NEC also reported to the National Assembly that a system should be legalized to jointly support the personnel, facilities, and equipment necessary for election management at a government-wide level, and that a plan to operate a national election support promotion consultative body to discuss such issues should be considered.

Meanwhile, the NEC reported to the special committee on this day a few minutes earlier than the initial investigation results of the fact-finding committee regarding the time when the ballot paper shortage was first recognized.

Kang Dong-wan, acting Secretary-General, said, "The Songpa-gu Election Commission first recognized the concern about the shortage of remaining ballot papers at 11:34 AM from Jamsil 4-dong. We initially identified the time of recognition as 11:58 AM based on the group chat records, but upon backtracking the reporting channels, we have confirmed the initial recognition time as 11:34 AM and are reporting it with this correction."

In relation to this, the NEC's fact-finding committee had announced in a briefing on the results of its activities on the 19th that an official from the Songpa-gu Election Commission inquired about the serial numbers for reserve ballot papers around 11:40 AM due to concerns about a shortage.

The NEC also revealed that as of the 18th, 141 polling stations had received additional ballot papers, which also differs from the "140 locations" announced by the fact-finding committee.

In response, Kim Eun-hye, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, stated, "Either the fact-finding committee downplayed the NEC incident, or the NEC reported a downplayed version of the incident to the fact-finding committee. One of them is definitely lying." She then moved to suggest, "I propose to the Chairman that this matter be referred for investigation and thoroughly investigated to be reported back to the public."