Voters wait in line at a polling station at an elementary school in Jamsil, Seoul, at around 7 pm, past the end of the voting period, following a shortage of ballots. (Nam Ji-hyeon/Hankyoreh)
Korea’s National Election Commission (NEC) is facing intense backlash after voting in Wednesday’s local elections came to an unprecedented halt after multiple polling sites in Seoul ran out of ballots.The NEC took belated action to address what critics called an “infringement of voting rights,” including allowing voting until late at night in some locations. But the controversy appeared to be growing, with intense confrontations taking place over attempts to transport ballot boxes outside the sites.Hankyoreh reporters learned that the line of voters at Polling Station No. 6 in Jamsil-2 neighborhood started backing up around 1 pm on Tuesday because of a shortage of ballot sheets.Reports of a ballot shortage rapidly circulated in the Jamsil, Gangnam and Gwangjin areas of Seoul, and several polling stations ran out of ballots altogether around 4:30 pm, with an hour and a half left before voting was supposed to close.There were 14 polling stations altogether that ran short on ballots: 12 in Songpa District (Garak-2, Jamsil-2, Jamsil-4, Jamsil-7 and Munjeong-2), 1 in Gangnam District (Cheongdam) and 1 in Gwangjin District (Guui-3). NEC strands voters without clear guidanceIt was a chaotic situation for voters at these polling stations. Some went home after waiting for hours without ever getting to vote, and others ended up voting while watching the exit polls.Since polling staff had no definite information to provide, many frustrated voters kept asking whether they would even have a chance to vote. Some polling stations handed out numbers and promised voters they would contact them when ballots became available.“A lot of moms had to go home without voting because of their kids. They were clearly disenfranchised,” said 39-year-old Lee, a resident of Songpa District who managed to cast their vote around 7 pm.The NEC added to confusion with its belated response. Some polling sites reported ballot shortages as early as the early afternoon, but reportedly were only provided with a limited number of additional ballots. At 5:25 pm, with a little more than 30 minutes left of voting, the NEC put out a belated press notice saying that voters who were in line before the 6 pm cutoff could still cast their ballots. Tense standoffs outside polling placesElection Day chaos continued into the early hours of Thursday. After intense backlash from local residents, one polling station in the Jamsil-7 neighborhood of Seoul’s Songpa District extended voting to 10 pm for those who had received a number and were waiting in line. But by the time that voting had finished, conservative-leaning YouTubers and concerned citizens had converged on the polling site, effectively surrounding it to stop the ballot boxes from being transported, prompting police to intervene with crowd control measures. Many have voiced concern that this latest debacle has cost the NEC the public’s trust when it comes to managing elections. “Korean society is susceptible to ideological conflict between political camps and conspiracy theories, meaning NEC's credibility and impartiality are among its most important assets,” said Lee Jae-mook, a professor of political science at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. “This incident has dealt a serious blow to both.”By Lim Jae-woo, staff reporter; Nam Ji-hyeon, staff reporter; Park Chan-hee, staff reporter; Kim Hae-jeong, staff reporterPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
