Joint Investigation Headquarters raids NEC server for second day over alleged voter turnout manipulation... suspects and witnesses questioned

News 1 [Financial News] The Joint Investigation Headquarters, led by the third deputy chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Kim Tae-hoon, which is investigating allegations of voter turnout manipulation on election day for the June 3 local elections, carried out a second consecutive day of searches at the National Election Commission (NEC). Questioning of suspects and witnesses related to the ballot shortage and allegations of unnecessary overseas trips by NEC officials is also now under way in earnest.
According to the legal community on the 24th, the Joint Investigation Headquarters is conducting a search of the NEC server this morning. It follows searches of the NEC and the Gyeonggi Provincial Election Commission the previous day.
The team also searched NEC and Gyeonggi Provincial Election Commission staff members suspected of being involved in statistical manipulation on charges including falsifying public electronic records and obstructing the performance of official duties. Investigators believe that a misentry occurred during the vote-counting process at a polling station in Gyeonggi Province, but that it was neither immediately reported to the NEC nor corrected.
The number of voters, which was actually in the hundreds, was reportedly entered as several thousand, and the tally remained unchanged for about four hours.
They are also examining whether Gyeonggi Provincial Election Commission staff engaged in so-called "number matching," in which the inflated voter totals were distributed across other polling stations and entered there.
The investigation is looking into whether this was done on the assumption that any discrepancy would naturally narrow as actual voters continued to arrive until the 6 p.
m.
close of voting.
The Joint Investigation Headquarters plans to summon the people involved and reconstruct the sequence of events once the seized materials have been analyzed.
As for the ballot shortage case, the office chief of the Dongjak District Election Commission will be questioned as a suspect, while two officials from the NEC's Election Division 1 will be interviewed as witnesses.
Three officials from the NEC's Election Management Division and Organizational Administration Division will also appear in connection with allegations that former NEC Chairman Rho Tae-ak and others took unnecessary overseas trips.
[email protected] Choi Eun-sol Reporter