From left, People Power Party lawmakers Park Dae-chul, Kim Min-jeon, and Kim Min-soo [Kim Min-jeon's Facebook]

On the 12th, Representative Kim Min-jeon of the People Power Party posted a statement on Facebook from a party floor deputy leader, arguing that "the early voting system must be abolished." 

According to an analysis of "recent data on early voting outside of designated districts across five elections" by Representative Cho Seung-hwan’s office, the number of ballots actually received by the city, county, and district election commissions was 1,088 fewer than the number of people who cast votes outside their districts.

She criticized this, stating that it means approximately 200 precious votes per election have vanished into thin air solely within the out-of-district early voting process, adding that "the situation is even more serious given that this figure was not something the National Election Commission (NEC) recognized or analyzed the causes for itself."

Furthermore, she noted, "Many countries do not simply close the books once the vote counting is finished," adding, "They have systems in place for post-election audits to verify the accuracy of the entire process from voting to counting."

She then sharpened her tone, stating, "The bigger problem lies in the early voting system itself."

According to her, some countries, like France and Taiwan, do not allow any form of early voting, while others, such as the U.S. and Germany, do permit it.

In countries like the U.S. and Germany that use early mail-in voting, voters must register with the relevant election authority to cast an early vote. When the mail-in ballot arrives at the authority, there is a verification process to ensure the signature on the envelope matches the signature provided during registration. Nevertheless, she noted that voices calling for the abolition of early mail-in voting are growing in both the U.S. and Germany.

She emphasized, "We do not have a voter identity verification system for mail-in ballots received at the place of resident registration," adding, "An even greater issue is our in-district early voting. There is no other country where 'naked ballots'—without envelopes and with no way to identify the voter—are stored for several days like our in-district early voting system."

Additionally, she stated that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) announced in 2023 that through cyber-hacking, it is possible to make non-voters appear as if they had voted, make actual voters appear as if they had not, and even manipulate vote counts. She also reported that the number of hacking attempts against the NEC has already exceeded 100,000 this year alone.

Finally, the People Power Party asserted, "This unverifiable early voting system, which is vulnerable to hacking, must now be abolished," adding, "Before early voting was introduced, such chaos in election management did not exist. It is time to stop merely criticizing the NEC for an unworkable system and instead replace it with one that actually works."

Reporter Im Yo-hee