Ballot papers stolen from Seoul pre-election polling station... Sloppy management becomes an issue = South Korean presidential election

On the 29th, when advance voting for South Korea's 21st presidential election began, an incident occurred in which ballots were stolen from a polling station in Seoul.
A live broadcast was conducted at the entrance of the advance polling station set up at the community center in Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul.
A YouTube channel recorded citizens holding ballots and envelopes for forwarding outside polling stations. Some voters who were waiting for early voting outside their jurisdiction were also seen lining up in long queues.
There were also reports that he had gone out to eat without taking his ballot and had returned. In response, the Central Election Commission released an explanatory document, stating that "From around 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.,
"Until around 25 minutes later, at the Shinchon-dong advance polling station, after early voters from outside the area had verified their identity and received their ballots, the queue to write their ballots stretched outside the polling station," the department acknowledged.
The election commission explained that it had stopped waiting outside at around 12:25 p.m. and adjusted the speed of identity verification and ballot distribution.
The situation and precautions have been communicated to the election commission, which also announced that it has installed seven more writing desks, bringing the total to 13.
Initially, the polling station had only six writing desks and seven machines for pre-voting outside the jurisdiction, which required identity verification.
The Election Commission explained that because of this, when voters rushed in, the waiting lines stretched outside the polling stations. The Election Commission said, "In a situation where the waiting lines at the writing desks were long, we decided to slow down the distribution of ballot papers.
"There were administrative flaws that could not be adjusted," he said. "Even though police officers and guides were stationed outside the polling stations, a very small number of voters left the waiting line, and there were other instances of voters waiting to vote.
"We are sorry that our control over the employees was not perfect," the company said in its apology. It also said, "We will work to prevent a recurrence of similar cases in the future."
The building used as the polling station had not been in use since January 2022 and no CCTV cameras were installed inside or outside the building.
The supervisor of the polling station in question was an employee of the Seodaemun District Office. Because the supervisors of advance polling stations are local government employees, it is reported that there were no regular employees of the National Election Commission on the spot at the time.
In response, the Seodaemun District Office said, "The voting officers are essentially district office employees, but they have received training from the National Election Commission and are performing their duties on its behalf. They are not qualified to work on the ground as district office employees."
In response to the recent ballot removal incident, some in the political world criticized the Election Commission for its sloppy management.
"The sloppy election management was evident from the first day of early voting," Park Sung Hoon, spokesman for the ruling People Power Party's Central Election Strategy Committee, said in a commentary.
"Does the Election Commission have the intention to restore trust?" he said, calling for a thorough investigation and an apology to the public. "The Election Commission itself should not dampen the excitement of voting," Park said, "and should continue to hold a single election until the day of the election."
"The fate of the organization should be on the line, and we should be perfect in managing the election so that the controversy in the past does not occur," he said.
"In the 2022 presidential election, we saw the outrageous sight of people carrying ballots in sieves or shopping bags, but this time they just let the ballots go outside the polling stations on their own," he said.
"Only the public is angry at the repeated mismanagement," he said. Rep. Bae Hyun Jin sarcastically said, "Not only was 'sieve voting' not enough, but now it's 'rice bowl voting'?"
"The election commission should immediately check whether similar incidents have occurred at polling stations across the country and report this to the public. They should also be prepared to take measures such as apologizing to the public and disciplining those responsible for any future shortcomings in election management," he said.
Moon Sung Ho, a Seoul city council member, and Lee Jin-sam, a Seodaemun district council member, from the party also personally visited the early voting station on the same day.
The Republic of Korea, a Nation that Stands Righteously, is an affiliated organization of the Sarang First Church led by Pastor Jeon Gwang-hoon.
The Democratic Movement Headquarters also issued a statement the same day, harshly criticizing the incident, saying, "The 'removal of ballots' incident is not simple confusion on the ground, but a serious breakdown that has destroyed the very foundation of the Republic of Korea's electoral system."