Election Commission special prosecutor team identifies six more locations with falsified voter counts ... 36 in total

[Financial News] The special prosecutor team for the National Election Commission (Special Prosecutor Lee Tae-han), which is investigating the shortage of ballot papers during the June 3 local elections, has identified six additional city, county and district election commissions where voter counts were entered falsely.
On the 22nd, the team said it had found additional cases of election statistics being falsified at six locations, on top of the 30 city, county and district election commissions investigated earlier: Chungju in North Chungcheong Province; Nonsan in South Chungcheong Province; Masanhappo-gu and Hoewon-gu in Changwon City, South Gyeongsang Province; Sangju in North Gyeongsang Province; and Gangneung in Gangwon State.
The team said that, through analysis of seized materials and questioning of people involved, it had confirmed that hourly voter-count statistics were falsely entered at a total of 36 city, county and district election commissions.
The special prosecutor will focus its investigation on establishing how and to what extent the hourly voter-count statistics were falsified, and whether there was coordinated involvement.
Earlier, on the 15th, the team confirmed that real-time hourly voter counts had been falsely entered into the election management system and the voting and counting reporting system at 25 regional election commissions nationwide, in addition to five locations identified by the existing joint investigation headquarters of prosecutors and police: Seocho-gu and Gangnam-gu in Seoul, Gimpo and Uiwang in Gyeonggi Province, and Jincheon County in North Chungcheong Province.
They include Guro-gu, Mapo-gu and Seongbuk-gu in Seoul; Guri, Pyeongtaek, Suwon, Yongin, Seongnam, Namyangju, Yeoju and Dongducheon in Gyeonggi Province; Cheongju City in North Chungcheong Province; and Seobuk-gu and Dongnam-gu in Cheonan City and Geumsan County in South Chungcheong Province. Also included were Nam-gu in Busan, Changwon City in South Gyeongsang Province, Buk-gu in Gwangju, Mokpo and Gwangyang cities and Hwasun County in South Jeolla Province, Chuncheon, Jeongseon and Hwacheon in Gangwon State, and Seogwipo City in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province.
For several weeks, the team stationed forensic investigators at the National Election Commission to analyze logs of hourly voter counts from polling stations nationwide. It also questioned about 70 officials from eup, myeon and dong and city, county and district election commissions who were responsible for reporting real-time turnout during the local elections.
According to the team, in some locations, when the voter count entered incorrectly for a particular time exceeded the actual final voter count, the overall figures were later changed again to false figures. Investigators also found that in some cases, the incorrect figures were left as they were, while the same values or figures rising by a consistent increment continued to be entered afterward.
That day, the team searched and seized materials at seven locations in total: the National Election Commission; the election commissions in South Chungcheong, Jeonnam-Gwangju, South Gyeongsang and Gangwon State; and the commissions in Nam-gu, Busan, and Seogwipo City, Jeju.
The team said, “The hourly voter counts entered falsely were announced to the public as real-time turnout information,” and characterized it as “a serious crime that undermines public confidence in the fairness and transparency of elections and could lead to distrust in the electoral system itself.”
[email protected] Choi Eun-sol Reporter