A joint team of South Korean prosecutors and police raided the National Election Commission (NEC) headquarters and offices in Seoul after evidence suggested some officials may have colluded to alter voter turnout statistics to conceal errors made when recording figures during the local elections on June 3. Investigators seized messages indicating collusion to "adjust numbers to match" without following proper approval procedures.
The joint prosecutor-police task force, established to investigate the shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections, searched the NEC headquarters in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, along with NEC offices in the Songpa, Gangnam, and Seocho districts—areas where ballot shortages occurred on election day.
This search followed evidence that some officials may have altered computer records of voter turnout rates to cover up data entry errors without reporting to supervisors as required by protocol.
Under NEC rules, voter turnout rates are announced hourly on election day based on data from polling stations nationwide. If errors are found in the data, officials must report them to supervisors and obtain approval before making corrections. However, investigators believe some officials bypassed these steps and directly altered the figures in the system.
One example under investigation is if a polling station incorrectly recorded 1,000 voters instead of 100, officials might redistribute the excess 900 votes evenly among nine other stations at 100 each, making the overall total appear reasonable until actual turnout numbers gradually approach the adjusted figures.
Sources from the investigation revealed that internal messaging app chats showed discussions about avoiding reporting errors to supervisors, opting instead to "adjust the numbers to match" among themselves.
The search warrant cited allegations of forging government electronic data and obstructing officials' duties, which are considered more serious offenses than mere negligent mismanagement.
The probe began after ballot shortages at several polling stations on June 3 prevented some voters from casting their ballots, forcing them to leave without voting.
Following the incident, President Lee Jae-myung ordered on June 9 the formation of a joint prosecutor-police task force to investigate the cause. The task force conducted its first NEC office raid on June 11 and a subsequent search on June 24 to collect documents and data related to election day management.
Officials stated that after analyzing data from the raids and interviewing involved personnel, new leads emerged regarding election data manipulation, prompting a focused investigation into the issue.
If data falsification is proven, the case could extend beyond the June 3 local elections to review previous elections for unauthorized alterations of voter turnout or other election data.
The investigation team said that after completing analysis of the seized evidence, they will summon NEC officials for questioning to clarify facts about voter turnout data recording and system modifications during elections.