Seoul election body's bid to curb fraud theories backfires amid ballot shortages

Conspiracy theories about election rigging have erupted in Seoul, fueled by a ballot shortage that disrupted vote counting and led to protesters blocking access to uncounted ballots. At a polling station in the Jamsil neighborhood, hundreds gathered, waving placards accusing China of interference and preventing officials from removing approximately 2,000 ballots stored on-site.

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We must protect the ballot boxes inside at all costs.

Figures like Jeon Han-gil, a former history lecturer promoting debunked fraud theories on YouTube, and Hwang Kyo-ahn, head of the Freedom & Innovation party, addressed the crowd, amplifying claims of stolen elections. The situation escalated as protesters, some associated with a "Korea-US Election Fraud Joint Investigation Team," converged at the Jamsil polling station, viewing the stored ballots as evidence of fraud.

Ironically, the current turmoil can be traced back to the National Election Commission's (NEC) own efforts to preemptively address concerns about vote tampering. In previous elections, the NEC faced allegations of fraud, leading to pressure regarding the preservation and disposal of residual paper ballots. For the recent election, the commission reduced the number of printed ballots to 50% of eligible voters, down from about 70% in 2018, citing a decrease in local election turnout and an increase in early voting. However, this reduction, coupled with inadequate on-the-ground responses to ballot shortages, exposed administrative shortcomings and inadvertently supercharged existing conspiracy theories.

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Protesters had kept officials from removing two boxes of ballots from Wednesday’s local elections that were being stored there.

The extended voting hours at the Jamsil polling station, which remained open until 10 pm due to a shortage of ballot sheets, became the focal point for those convinced of electoral fraud. The presence of uncounted ballots there prevented the final tally for the Seoul mayoral race and other contests, leaving results in limbo.

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Ironically, it was the NEC’s own concerns about rumors of vote tampering that triggered the situation now supercharging election fraud conspiracy theories.