70 sheets of 'water-soaked ballots' appearing at the polling station count for the 6.3 local elections in Haedo-dong, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk. [Photo = Freedom and Innovation]

Seventy sheets of 'water-soaked ballots' were discovered at the vote counting site for the 6.3 local elections in Haedo-dong, Nam-gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk. A ballot counting observer who found them officially filed an objection. They also reported it to the police, of course. Is it possible for ballots to get wet inside a sealed ballot box?

At 6 PM on the 3rd, the day of the main vote, the election commission sealed the ballot boxes immediately after voting closed by affixing seals to the top opening. The seals were also signed by the election manager and ballot observers.

In that condition, the ballot boxes were transported to the counting station by vehicle. How could the ballots have gotten wet in the meantime? The weather in Pohang was clear, with not a drop of rain.

Here, we can make several 'near-imaginable' assumptions.

First, there's the possibility that the ballot box lid was opened during transport. However, the process of transporting ballot boxes is not typically lax. With seals on the ballot boxes and observers watching, opening the ballot box lid is an unthinkable act.

Yet, without opening it, there is no way to 'soak' the ballots. The highest level of imagination we can employ is that the ballot box lid was opened, deceiving the observers, and water was poured in.

It's unlikely that water was intentionally poured in due to the heat; it's more plausible that it was accidentally spilled while drinking. How much water would be needed to soak 70 sheets? At the very least, half a paper cup would be required.

Then, who opened the ballot box, which should never be opened, and why? It's unlikely they were curious to see if the ballots were still there. Opening a ballot box is illegal the moment it's opened. Merely opening it, regardless of whether anything was put in or taken out, violates election law.

Let's exercise another stretch of imagination. Is there a possibility that the entire ballot box was dropped into water?

Given that the ballot box has a sealed insertion slot and is enclosed on all sides, it's unlikely the interior would get wet even if water were poured with a bucket. However, if the entire ballot box were submerged in a water tank, the story would be different. Water in a tank finds even the smallest of gaps.

Who dropped the ballot box into the tank and why? It's unlikely they intentionally stopped at a swimming pool while transporting the ballot boxes to the counting station. However, if it was a water-damaged ballot box from the start, the story changes. What if there was a 'ballot box swap' as rumored? What if the fake ballot box already contained wet ballots?

Why were those irregular items wet? Fake ballot boxes often come from abroad via sea. If the fake ones traveled by sea to Pohang, and the transporter accidentally dropped the ballot box into the sea and quickly retrieved it? Is this imagination too much like a fantasy thriller?

Pandora's Box is a forbidden box from Greek mythology. When the box that should never be opened was opened, calamities like disease, poverty, and war were released into the world. Pandora's Box is often used as a metaphor for a situation where touching something that should not be touched unleashes unexpected disasters.

However, the reason the world did not perish even after Pandora's Box was opened is because of what remained inside, 'hope.' The election commission, unable to provide any explanation or clarification regarding the wet ballots, declared them 'valid votes.' If someone opened the box and took something out or put something in, that in itself is a disaster. But what if there is something that crouches inside, unable to escape?

If the election commission, which has skillfully avoided explaining away numerous evidence of election fraud, cannot explain the wet ballot incident, perhaps it will be a small 'hope' for patriotic citizens. Let's start there.