Central Election Commission. Yonhap News. 

There are those who say nowadays:

“Why are flawed ballots evidence of election fraud?”

While this may sound rational at first glance, the question itself is logically flawed.

Consider this.

We don't conclude food poisoning just because it smells strange.

However, no one would eat that food without a second thought.

The smell is a reason for suspicion, the beginning of an investigation.

It's the same in medicine.

An MRI showing a mass doesn't immediately confirm cancer.

But ignoring it puts the patient at risk.

If a doctor were to say, “Why is that cancer?” and obstruct the examination,

they wouldn't be a doctor, but a quack.

It's no different with flawed ballots.

An error in one or two ballots might be a simple mistake.

But if defects of the same type, at the same time, occur nationwide

and are repeated in a specific direction,

it's a signal that suggests a system anomaly.

Despite this, politicians remain silent when asked to open the server for verification.

Log data, transmission paths, the risk of infringing on secret ballots through data interconnections —

To say “there is no problem” without even confirming these basics

is not science, but blind faith.

Belief builds communities,

but faith without verification crumbles systems.

More alarming is

that the judiciary has taken no action, even though election invalidation lawsuits for the April 10 general election, in which an elected official made such remarks, have now passed the legally mandated 180 days by threefold.

A proper member of the National Assembly

should not stand by, saying “it's a judicial matter, so there's nothing we can do.”

This is because it constitutes an abandonment of the legislative branch's duty to provide checks and balances, as mandated by the Constitution.

The National Assembly is not meant to stand above the judiciary,

but is an institution responsible for raising issues and demanding corrections when the rights of the people are trampled.

Democracy is protected not by belief, but by trust built on verification.

If the public senses an anomaly, politics should not

ridicule or ignore it.

The role of politics is to verify transparently and improve systems

so that the public can regain trust.

Politics that mocks the public's allegations of election fraud,

dismisses demands for verification as political attacks,

and even abandons its duty of oversight.

Such quackery in politics must end now.

Public trust is not given;

it is built through verification and accountability.

This is the spirit of science and the essence of democracy. 

Wi Geum-sook, Chairwoman of the Special Committee for Election Reform and Countering Election Fraud, Freedom and Innovation Party; Ph.D. in Computer Engineering