A storage box at the center of a ballot shortage controversy in Songpa-gu, southern Seoul, was found missing Wednesday, a day after a court ordered its preservation as evidence.
The box was one of four pieces of evidence that the Seoul Eastern District Court had ordered preserved. Its absence is likely to fuel criticism from groups that have questioned the voting process and called for a rerun of the June 3 local elections.
The box’s absence was discovered when court officials visited the polling station to inspect evidence following the preservation order. The Songpa District Election Commission, which had been expected to possess the box, said it did not have it.
According to local media reports, an election commission official said the commission had no legal obligation to preserve the item because it was not an official ballot box and that officials would need to determine where it had been moved.
The polling station had already resumed its normal function as a senior welfare center before the preservation order was issued.
The ballot storage box drew attention after protesters entered the polling station following the transfer of ballot boxes to the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in southern Seoul for vote counting. A label on the box listed 1,900 ballots.
The box is regarded as important evidence because it could help establish whether the polling station had prepared fewer ballots than required when voting started.
The station reportedly prepared ballots equivalent to 49.3 percent of registered voters, below the National Election Commission’s internal guideline of 50 percent.
The court’s preservation order was issued following a request by Kim Jeong-cheol, the Reform Party’s candidate for Seoul mayor. As a candidate, Kim was eligible to seek preservation of evidence in anticipation of a potential election dispute.
The court also ordered the preservation of surveillance footage from the polling station covering the period from 8 a.m. on June 3 to 9 a.m. on June 6, records from a group chat used by Songpa election officials during the ballot shortage incident, and related text message records.
Ballot boxes themselves, however, were not accepted as evidence subject to preservation.
“The ballot storage box is evidence that election officials failed to meet the NEC’s 50 percent internal standard,” Kim said. “Since the box could not be secured, I may also request preservation of the ballot boxes at the counting center.”
forestjs@heraldcorp.com
