After a Miscount, Vote-Turnout Figures Were 'Covered Up'... First Probe Into NEC Election Statistics Manipulation [Full Report]

[Financial News] Working-level employees at the National Election Commission appear to have arbitrarily manipulated the election statistics system to fix an error in turnout figures on the day of the June 3 local elections. They are accused of covering up a serious issue that could have affected the election results by handling it on their own.
The Joint Investigation Headquarters of Prosecutors and Police for uncovering violations of the people's right to vote, led by Kim Tae-hoon, the third deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, said on the 23rd that it had discovered signs of false turnout entries by officials at the NEC and the Gyeonggi Provincial Election Commission during the June local elections, and was carrying out searches of those involved on charges of falsifying public electronic records and obstructing official duties. The headquarters added that it was executing search warrants at the NEC headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, as well as local election commissions in Songpa-gu, Gangnam-gu, and Seocho-gu in Seoul.
The headquarters believes that when a misentry occurred during the vote-counting process, NEC staff did not follow the prescribed procedures. Instead, they allegedly conspired at the working level to conceal the error by simply adjusting the numbers in the computer system. This is the first time investigators have uncovered signs of manipulation in the NEC's election statistics system.
Until now, the NEC has publicly released turnout figures by tallying the number of voters at polling stations nationwide every hour on early voting day and on election day. Polling station managers report the number of voters by phone or other means to township and neighborhood election commissions, which enter the cumulative figures into the election management system. The district, city, and county commissions then report the status upward, and provincial commissions and the NEC make the final confirmation.
If the number of voters at a particular polling station is entered incorrectly, the figure must be corrected only after going through a revision order from a higher authority and receiving renewed approval.
In this case, however, NEC staff reportedly did not report the misentry through proper procedures to their superiors. Instead, they allegedly manipulated the system on their own and spread the excess voter counts across polling stations in other areas. The idea was that, as time passed and the actual number of voters increased, the figures would eventually align naturally.
For example, if 100 voters at one polling station were mistakenly entered as 1,000, the excess 900 would be distributed in increments of 100 to nine other polling stations. As time passed and the actual turnout at those stations rose, the gap would gradually narrow. The headquarters is also said to have secured evidence that NEC employees exchanged messages internally saying, in effect, that they should not report the misentry in voter numbers and should instead adjust it on their own.
Until now, the investigation into the ballot shortage incident had focused on whether NEC employees had been negligent in management or had failed to perform their duties. Depending on whether intent was found, NEC officials could have faced punishment for dereliction of duty or only minor disciplinary action.
But with signs of deliberate manipulation of voting statistics now confirmed, the case is being seen as far more serious. Because working-level NEC employees had easy access to the statistics system, the possibility of tampering not only with turnout figures but also with other statistics or computer networks remains open, raising the prospect of a wider fallout. Questions are also being raised over whether the hourly turnout figures failed to reflect the actual situation, which may have contributed to inaccurate forecasts of ballot demand.
Based on the materials secured in the search and seizure on the day, the headquarters plans to focus on how far the statistical manipulation went and whether similar computer-based tampering occurred in past elections. It will also examine whether senior NEC managers were aware of the alleged manipulation and whether they properly fulfilled their oversight and supervisory duties. 

[email protected] Kim Dong-gyu Reporter