72 voter-count changes uncovered on June 3 local election day, including increases of thousands and a correction made 9 minutes before midnight

[Financial News] The National Election Commission (NEC) received as many as 72 correction reports on voter counts on the day of the June 3 local elections.
In some polling stations, the number of voters jumped by thousands at once, and in one case the correction process was not completed until just nine minutes before midnight.
According to records of hourly vote-count corrections submitted by the NEC to Rep. Kim Eun-hye's office of the People Power Party on the 27th, district, city and county election commissions nationwide filed a total of 72 requests to revise voter counts with the NEC on election day. Given that there are 255 district, city and county election commissions nationwide, there may be additional correction cases not included in this data.
The largest change was reported in Gangseo District, Incheon. The election commission there initially reported 54,665 voters at 4 p.m., but later corrected the figure to 61,276. That was an increase of 6,611 voters. The reason for the correction was listed as, "After final reporting by polling station, the figures were tallied and saved, but the total election-day vote count differed."
In Sacheon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, the noon voter count rose by 3,997, from 15,634 to 19,631. The correction reason was listed as "election-day votes not reflected." In Sangdang District, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, the 5 p.m. voter count was entered as 51,833, the same as the previous hour, before being raised to 56,081, an increase of 4,248. In Hongseong County, South Chungcheong Province, the 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. figures were also entered identically, and were later corrected from 28,092 to 29,863.
There were also many simple input errors. The No. 1 polling station in Baegun-dong, Danwon District, Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, requested a change from 41 votes to 140. At the No. 1 polling station in Gyegok-myeon, Haenam County, South Jeolla Province, the actual count of 84 was mistakenly entered as 284 and then corrected. The No. 2 polling station in Bupyeong 3-dong, Bupyeong District, Incheon, reported 949 voters instead of the actual 691, while Gangwon Goseong County revised its 11 a.m. voter count from 4,392 to 5,639.
Some corrections were delayed until after voting had ended. The No. 2 polling station in Jungang-dong, Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi-do, submitted a correction request at 11:02 p.m. due to a tallying error, and the process was completed around 11:20 p.m. The No. 5 polling station in Deogi-dong, Ilsanseo District, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, filed its correction request at 11:25 p.m., and the report was not completed until 11:51 p.m. That left just nine minutes before midnight.
There were also cases in which the same figure was changed multiple times. The No. 1 polling station in Yonggang-dong, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, reduced its voter count from 2,162 to 2,161, then restored it to 2,162 about 40 minutes later.
Under the comprehensive election management guidelines for local elections, any change to voter counts entered into the election management system must include a detailed explanation for the correction and receive confirmation and approval from the provincial election commission. However, many of the actual records contained explanations that made it difficult to determine the exact cause, such as "correction due to omission in entry," "change in voter count," and "revision of township, town and neighborhood voter counts."
Hourly voter counts are compiled when polling station managers report them by phone to township, town and neighborhood election commissions, which enter the data into the election management system. District, city and county election commissions then relay the information to provincial election commissions and the NEC through the vote-counting and vote-reporting system.
The Joint Prosecutor-Police Investigation Task Force, which is investigating the allegations, is examining whether some election commission employees, after errors occurred during the reporting process, entered voter counts across multiple time slots instead of following the formal correction procedure. The task force has so far identified suspicious signs in two areas in Gyeonggi Province, including Gimpo, and in the Chungcheong Region, and is expanding its investigation to determine whether similar cases exist elsewhere.
 
[email protected] Choi Eun-sol, Lee Hae-ram Reporter