Wednesday’s incident adds to a long list of complaints against the NEC Protesters gather outside the National Election Commission headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Thursday morning, claiming the Seoul mayoral election was rigged following a ballot shortage controversy. (Yonhap) The country's election watchdog is defending itself against a national furor after a ballot shortage on Wednesday forced a temporary suspension of voting at some polling stations and left some voters waiting for hours.The unprecedented incident was the latest in a series of mishaps and disputes surrounding the National Election Commission, which has faced criticism over what some call poor election management.A separate incident during Wednesday’s local elections occurred when a Seoul voter was able to receive two ballots in Yeongdeungpo-gu. The man voted once, changed clothes and got back in line to receive a second ballot, but election officials did not stop him.The voter did not cast the second ballot and instead reported the case to police, saying he had done so to show how poorly the NEC was managing the elections.Previous mistakesDuring early voting for the June 3, 2025 presidential election, some voters in Seodaemun-gu were told to wait outside a polling station after receiving their ballots. The Public Officials Election Act states that a voter who receives a ballot must cast it immediately and then leave the polling station.Most of the voters waited outside before casting their ballots, but some told local media they had gone to a nearby restaurant for a meal while waiting. While that specific claim was not confirmed, it would mean ballots used in a national election were outside the control of election authorities.The NEC said there was no clear legal clause prohibiting a ballot from being taken outside a polling station, but issued a public apology over the incident.Another incident occurred during early voting in the same election, when a woman in her 20s in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, was handed a ballot that had already been marked.The NEC filed a complaint against her, but police later found that the incident was the result of an election official’s mistake. The NEC expressed regret but did not apologize.In the 2024 parliamentary election, a cast ballot was found inside a ballot box during early voting in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.Disputes in 2022A series of management failures also occurred during the 2022 presidential election, when special voting procedures were introduced for COVID-19 patients and people under quarantine.In one case, a ballot was lost at a polling station in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. In another, a person was unable to vote because of a computer error that listed them as dead. Cases of voters receiving already-marked ballots were also reported in Daegu and Seoul.Most of the incidents occurred during a separate voting period for COVID-19 patients and people under quarantine. Some voters reportedly went home because of long waiting times caused by overcrowding at polling stations.The delays stemmed in part from the NEC’s underestimation of the time required for special voting. The commission assumed that only about 20 quarantined voters would visit each polling station and that they would need about an hour to cast their ballots. That estimate was based on the assumption that affected voters would be evenly distributed across polling stations nationwide, even though turnout in densely populated areas was far higher than elsewhere.A so-called “basket voting” controversy also erupted after some election officials collected multiple ballots from COVID-19 patients and people under quarantine at once, instead of allowing voters to cast their ballots one by one. The practice was attributed to time constraints.Another minor dispute occurred when the NEC scheduled a televised debate for minor candidates with relatively low poll numbers at 1 a.m., drawing complaints from the candidates.These incidents increased the pressure on then-NEC chief Roh Jung-hee to step down. Police investigated the agency for possible violations of election law, but investigators did not seek criminal charges, saying the incidents appeared to have resulted from poor management rather than criminal intent.