Some constituencies changed numbers hours after votes were done A joint team of police and prosecutors leave the National Election Commission in Seoul on Thursday, after conducting a search and seizure of the NEC connected to the ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections. (Yonhap) South Korean election authorities made 72 revisions to figures related to the June 3 local elections, data showed Monday, fueling controversy surrounding votes already tainted by ballot shortages across the country.It was found that the National Election Commission received reports of 72 revisions on the day of the local elections from 56 election bodies across the country, according to the NEC review submitted to Rep. Kim Eun-hye of the main opposition People Power Party. The figure may not be final, as 255 regional election commissions were active during the elections.In Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, and Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, the final voter count was revised at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., respectively — well after the voting booths closed at 6 p.m.Geomdan-gu in Incheon initially reported the 4 p.m. voter count as 54,665, but this figure later jumped by over 6,000 to 61,276.One voting station in Baekun-dong, Danwon-gu, Ansan in Gyeonggi Province added an extra zero to initially report 410 voters instead of 41, while a voting station in Gyegok-myeon of Haenam, South Jeolla Province, wrote 284 instead of 84.A Yonggang-dong voting station in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, flip-flopped from 2,162 to 2,161, then back to 2,162."This shows how roughly managed the voter turnout was, when it is the very basis (of elections) and should be the most accurate," Kim said.She said there is no telling the extent of such "lax" election management, echoing her party's contention that a special counsel should be launched to look into the incident.A joint team of police and prosecutors investigating the June 3 local elections have found evidence that election authorities intentionally manipulated voter turnout numbers in multiple regions across the country. Last week, it was found that after discovering an error in the voter count for a precinct, the election body for North or South Chungcheong province compensated by altering voter turnout results for one or more other precincts.The voter turnout and voting rates are tallied by election officials at the site and relayed to the regional election commission, then reported to election authorities on the city and provincial level, before going to the NEC.Investigators believe that election officials may have tried to hide errors in voter turnout by bypassing the official process and revising the numbers.As of Monday, possible voting rate manipulations had been discovered in Gyeonggi and the Chungcheong provinces, with investigators still conducting probes into other regions.The June 3 elections have been subject to nationwide dispute and criticism after ballot shortages were reported at several voting stations across the country.Ballot shortages in Seoul, where the mayoral contest turned out to be one of the closest races nationwide, touched off a fierce rally from demonstrators who blocked ballots from being collected by authorities.