Rep. Joo Jin-woo [Photo = People Power Party]

New circumstances suggesting election fraud in the June 3 election have been uncovered. 

According to the office of Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party on the 13th, it was revealed that two different computer systems were used to aggregate the number of voters by time slot during the June 3 election.

This means that the district, city, and county election management committees were able to directly input or modify the number of voters by time slot—which had been compiled by the township, village, and neighborhood centers—into their own computer systems. 

When township, village, or neighborhood centers entered the number of voters into the "Election Management System," the district, city, and county election commissions proceeded with the reporting process using a separate "Voting and Counting Reporting System."

In the computerized aggregation process, which should accurately reflect the actual number of votes cast at the polling stations, the fact that a higher-level agency had the authority to arbitrarily alter figures, and that instructions to add or subtract from the actual numbers were even transmitted and executed, constitutes structural evidence that data could be artificially manipulated, rather than being a matter of simple administrative convenience.

According to the operational manual for voter count reporting obtained by Rep. Joo Jin-woo's office, while it is impossible for district, city, or county staff to directly access and modify input values in the township, village, and neighborhood election management systems, the "Voting and Counting Reporting System" is equipped with a feature that allows users to import data entered by the local levels and then manually input or modify it at the district, city, or county level. 

In other words, if data entry from a township, village, or neighborhood center was omitted or delayed, it was possible for district, city, or county staff to receive the figures via phone or messenger and enter them directly.

Furthermore, it has been determined that an official from the Gyeonggi Election Commission stated during the joint investigation that they had forwarded the relevant email to a group chat room for district, city, and county election commissions, and interpreted it as an instruction to "adjust the numbers for the next time slot."

The joint investigation team is currently determining whether the directive issued by the National Election Commission—stating that "figures may be adjusted by addition or subtraction when reporting for the next time slot"—was interpreted and implemented in the field as an instruction to manipulate the numbers to achieve a desired outcome. 

They are also reportedly comparing the raw data from township, village, and neighborhood centers with the values entered into the district, city, and county systems to identify who made the changes, the circumstances surrounding them, and whether there was any prior instruction or consultation with higher-level agencies.

Meanwhile, Rep. Joo Jin-woo stated, "If higher-level agencies were given the authority to directly alter the number of voters and were even instructed to report adjusted figures, does that not mean the Election Commission was 'matching numbers' rather than aggregating them?" He added, "A special prosecutor must be launched immediately to disclose all modification logs and raw data, and the truth regarding whether organized manipulation took place must be uncovered to the very end." 

In addition, the joint investigation team has summoned officials from the Seocho-gu Election Commission as suspects to investigate their response to the shortage of ballots, while also questioning three National Election Commission officials as witnesses regarding allegations of leisure-oriented overseas business trips involving former National Election Commission Chairman Noh Tae-ak and others.