Ballot shortages hit 50 polling stations in South Korea's local elections

South Korea's National Election Commission (NEC) has acknowledged that 50 polling stations across the country faced ballot shortages during the June 3 local elections and parliamentary by-elections. The insufficient supply of ballots necessitated the temporary suspension of voting at 22 of these locations, with Seoul's Songpa district reporting the highest number of affected polling stations.

Yun Jae-soo, head of the NEC's Election Policy Bureau, explained that the shortage stemmed from a decision to reduce the number of ballots printed for the main election day. This decision was based on a recent trend of increased early voting rates. "As early voting has increased recently, there has been a tendency for ballots to be excessively left over (on election day), so we printed ballots for election day voting at 50% of the total number of voters," Yun stated.

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As early voting has increased recently, there has been a tendency for ballots to be excessively left over (on election day), so we printed ballots for election day voting at 50% of the total number of voters.

While the overall number of ballots was not insufficient, Yun noted that variations in the number of voters on election day at different polling stations led to shortages in some areas. The NEC had revised its guidelines to allow for reduced ballot printing based on internal research and feedback from local election committees, considering factors like expected early voting turnout and past election results. For local elections, a lower limit of 50% of voters was set for ballot printing.

The NEC also revealed that the Songpa district election committee had inquired about potential ballot shortages on the morning of the election. Despite subsequent ballot distributions, the issue persisted in some polling stations, leading to the reported "accident." The commission attributed the delayed response to a shortage of staff available to handle the situation, as many had already departed for vote counting preparations. An investigation committee is set to be formed to examine the incident.

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There was an inquiry from the Songpa district committee to the Seoul city committee around 11:40 AM on election day, asking what to do if ballots ran short due to high voter turnout. We distributed ballots for the first time around 2 PM, and after that, we distributed them a second time as the shortage continued. Despite this, there was still a shortage, leading to the incident.