South Korean police raid election watchdog offices as ballot shortage scandal widens

South Korean police launched extensive raids on the National Election Commission's (NEC) headquarters and regional offices on June 11. The operation, involving about 100 personnel, targets a growing ballot shortage scandal that has expanded to include allegations of missing evidence, vote-counting errors, and mismanagement.

“

The ballot storage box has already been discarded.

The raids, which began at 9 a.m. at seven locations including the NEC headquarters in Gwacheon and several district election offices, aim to uncover the causes of the ballot shortages and the commission's alleged poor handling of the situation. The controversy first surfaced during the June 3 local elections, when 91 polling stations reported ballot shortages, and additional ballots sent to 140 stations arrived too late for some voters.

“

As an election-related item for which there is no legal obligation of preservation, it was disposed of in accordance with regular procedures.

Scrutiny has intensified following accusations of election mismanagement, including the disposal of a ballot storage box crucial as evidence and a data entry error that omitted over 1,100 votes. The missing box, sought by the Seoul Eastern District Court, was reportedly discarded by the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission, which stated it was disposed of according to regular procedures as it was not a legally mandated item for preservation. An NEC official told JoongAng Ilbo that the box was discarded before the court's preservation order.

“

The election commission said they did not know where the evidence was.