사라진 증거물과 흔들리는 신뢰: 6·3 지방선거 투표용지 부족 사태의 실체 > K-wave Trends

At the center of this incident is a box of ballots marked ‘1,900’ found at the 2nd polling station in Jamsil 7-dong. Considering that the number of voters at the polling station was 3,856, this was only about 49.3%, less than half of the number of voters. As it was revealed that the National Election Commission did not even adhere to the minimum printing standard of 50% set by internal guidelines, controversy is heating up as to whether this incident was a simple mistake or a predicted accident. On the 9th, the court made a decision to preserve this box, CCTV footage, and internal communication records of the National Election Commission as evidence. However, court officials and applicants who arrived at the site on the 10th had to face only an empty polling place.

The National Election Commission is in a perplexed position as to how the evidence disappeared. Officials from the National Election Commission explained that they are unable to determine the whereabouts of the items, citing the fact that ballot storage boxes other than ballot boxes are not subject to storage obligations. Some are raising the possibility that items may have been lost by a third party during the commotion that occurred while transporting ballot boxes on the 5th and when protesters entered the polling place. However, it is difficult to avoid criticism that the National Election Commission, which handles the country's most stringent affairs, neglected key physical evidence until just before the court's decision to preserve the evidence was made. This is not just a matter of items disappearing, but is also an indicator of how poorly the National Election Commission's voting management system is functioning.

It is pointed out that the fundamental cause of this situation is the arbitrary decision-making structure of the National Election Commission, which arbitrarily lowered the standards for printing ballots. As confirmed, the National Election Commission decided in December last year to reduce the lower limit of ballot paper printing from 60% to 50%. What is surprising is that this important decision was made without a separate official meeting or sufficient opinion gathering process, with only the internal approval of the Secretary General and the Director of Election Policy. The fact that the agency that manages election affairs, which is the foundation of democracy, changed its standards based solely on internal approval without even keeping meeting minutes clearly shows how closed and complacent the National Election Commission has been running the organization.

As the court's on-site verification ended virtually 'empty-handed', uncovering the truth in the future is expected to go through an even more difficult process. The applicant, Kim Jeong-cheol, a member of the Supreme Council of the New Reform Party, expressed a strong stance that he would request a fact-finding investigation from the National Election Commission and, if necessary, apply for the preservation of additional evidence regarding the ballot boxes stored at the vote counting center. 또한, 15일경 선거소청을 제기하여 선거의 무효 여부를 법적 절차에 따라 따져 묻겠다는 계획입니다. The court is expected to closely investigate the entire story of the ballot paper shortage and suspicions of concealment through CCTV footage and internal messenger records that will be submitted by the National Election Commission. 이제 공은 법원으로 넘어갔으며, 국민은 이번 사태의 책임 소재가 명확히 가려지기를 기다리고 있습니다.