Ballot Shortages Hit Seoul Polling Stations as Voter Turnout Surges

Translation result

On June 3, the main voting day for the 9th nationwide local elections and parliamentary by-elections, an unprecedented disruption occurred when some polling stations ran out of ballots and temporarily halted voting. The National Election Commission said shortages were reported at 10 locations in total, and officials have since resolved those incidents.

The commission reported that polling places in Jamsil 4-dong and Garak 2-dong in Songpa District ran out of ballots and suspended voting. At several stations, voting was halted around 4:10 PM, producing long lines of waiting voters and creating confusion at the sites.

Shortages were also reported in Gangnam, Gwangjin and Dongjak districts in Seoul, as well as Yeonsu District in Incheon.

The Seoul branch of the People Power Party, in its own count, identified 12 locations with ballot shortages as of 6 PM: Songpa District — Munjeong 1-dong Polling Station No.4, Munjeong 2-dong No.2, Jamsil 2-dong No.6, Jamsil 7-dong No.2, Jamsil 4-dong No.5, Garak 2-dong Nos.3 and 7, and Wirye-dong No.5; Gangnam District — Cheongdam-dong No.4 and Gaepo 2-dong No.2; Gwangjin District — Guui 3-dong No.6; and Dongjak District — Noryangjin 1-dong No.7.

In Incheon, Songdo 5-dong Polling Station No.1 and Dongchun 1-dong polling station exhausted their ballots. Voters at those sites had to wait until ballots were transferred from other areas before they could complete voting.

Reports of voting suspensions due to ballot shortages surged. The commission said turnout exceeded expectations, depleting the ballots it had prepared.

In a notice about the Songpa District shortages, the commission said turnout surpassed that of the previous election, causing some stations to run short of prepared ballots. It added that the Songpa election office was transferring ballots to affected stations.

Later, the commission said shortages had occurred at ten polling sites but all had been addressed. It said voting continued at three specific stations — Jamsil 2-dong polling stations No.5 and No.6, and Jamsil 7-dong No.2 — and that those locations were expected to finish around 7:30 PM.

Regarding reports that Cheongdam-dong in Gangnam and Guui-dong in Gwangjin had shortages, the commission clarified that those stations had not originally experienced shortages; when they reported problems, nearby stations supplied ballots and the issues were resolved.

The commission said the Secretary-General will issue a public apology at 9 PM regarding the ballot shortages.

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