The moment handwriting differences on the seal of an absentee pre-voting ballot box in Dalseo-gu, Daegu, were confirmed on May 30th, the second day of its safekeeping for the June 3rd, 2025 presidential election. [Photo = Lawyer Park Ju-hyun's Facebook]

One of the most contentious issues raised at the recent "Grand Debate on Election Irregularities" was the controversy surrounding ballot box seals.

Seals are special stickers used to verify whether a product has been opened and are broadly categorized into residue-type and non-residue-type.

With residue-type seals, the word 'VOID' clearly remains on the surface of the box when the sticker is peeled off.

Non-residue-type seals leave no trace on the box surface when removed, but the 'VOID' text appears on the sticker itself, indicating that the ballot box has been opened.

The seals currently used by the National Election Commission are non-residue-type. If forcefully peeled, the sticker itself shows an 'OPEN VOID' indication, and (pre-voting) election managers and (pre-voting) election observers directly sign over the seal to prevent it from being reattached.

However, during the last presidential election, there were issues with evidence of seals being peeled off and reattached.

Lawyer Park Ju-hyun, a prominent figure in the "Grand Debate on Election Irregularities," presented seals with differing handwriting on different dates from the 'absentee pre-voting ballot boxes' in Busanjin-gu during the June 3rd presidential election as evidence of election irregularities.

The early voting for the 21st presidential election, held on June 3rd, 2025, took place on May 29th and 30th, with the main election on June 3rd. From the 29th to June 2nd, for five days, the ballot boxes are sent to a designated location for safekeeping. The Election Commission is the authority responsible for ensuring that no one can tamper with these ballot boxes.

However, as seen in the following photo, the handwriting on the seals in photos taken on May 29th, June 1st, and 2nd is different.

Busanjin-gu 'absentee pre-voting ballot box' for the June 3rd, 2025 presidential election. The handwriting on the seals in photos taken on May 29th, June 1st, and 2nd are all different. [Photo = Park Ju-hyun's Facebook] 

Since the Election Commission's seals are non-residue-type, if someone opens a ballot box, a mark indicating it was opened remains on the sticker. Ultimately, if someone opened it with malicious intent, they would have no choice but to reattach a new seal, which requires a new signature.

The fact that the handwriting on the seals differs by date, despite the name being the same, indicates that the ballot boxes, which should never be opened, were opened multiple times at will and new stickers were affixed.

For this reason, many are calling for a change to residue-type seals.

The reason the Election Commission insists on non-residue-type seals is absurd.

In a media interview last year, the Election Commission stated, "Our commission uses 'non-residue-type' special seals considering the inspection and maintenance required for the reuse of (attached items) such as ballot boxes."

Furthermore, the Election Commission asserted that there were no issues with the security of signatures, responding, "When a special seal is attached to an item and then removed, a 'OPEN VOID' damage mark appears on the seal. All seals used to seal ballot boxes and other items are signed by relevant personnel, such as election managers and observers. Therefore, damage can be identified regardless of whether residue remains on the item."

However, what is the reality? Hasn't the handwriting on the seals changed?

During the April general election last year, the Gangnam Election Commission was seen peeling off seals at 11 PM and stuffing ballots into the ballot box in bulk. [Photo = Min Kyung-wook's Facebook] 

The current seals were blue in 2022 and later changed to black. There are many complaints that the regulation requiring signatures to be made only with black markers on the black seals makes it impossible to conduct proper handwriting analysis later.

Even more surprising is that there is no procedure for early voting observers to verify whether their signatures on the seals have been forged or altered when they visit the counting station a few days later.

In the case that was uncovered this time, it was possible to identify altered seals on the day of the count because an early voting observer for the Bu-bandae (pre-voting monitoring group) transferred photos of the seal signatures to the counting observers. This method was the only way to discover the forgery, highlighting a flaw in the system where any forgery could go undetected otherwise.

Beyond Busanjin-gu, there are numerous other cases of seal irregularities, such as the June 3rd presidential election seals in Dalseo-gu, Daegu, and the fraudulent non-residue-type seals that appeared at the Geoje counting station. What exactly happens to the ballot boxes during those five days?

▶ Hanmi Ilbo YouTube ▶Lawyer Park Ju-hyun: "The ballot boxes were swapped."

Reporter Lim Yo-hee