Exclusive: Chaotic Voting Extensions – Some Polling Stations Decided Closing Times as Late as 8:50 PM

[Anchor]

On the day of the June 3 local elections, voting was suspended at 26 polling stations nationwide due to a shortage of ballots, with some stations extending their operating hours beyond the 6:00 PM deadline. However, these extensions varied wildly from station to station, ranging from as little as 18 minutes to as long as four hours. In some cases, the decision on the closing time was not even made until 8:50 PM.

Park Jae-yeon reports.

[Reporter]

SBS has obtained the "Report on Ballot Shortages and Response Status for the June 3 Local Elections" from the National Election Commission (NEC).

The document includes the closing times for 14 polling stations in Songpa-gu, Seoul, where the suspension of voting was most severe.

Closing times varied significantly, ranging from 6:18 PM to 10:00 PM.

A closer look at the Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station, which finished voting latest, reveals the situation.

At this location, voting was suspended from 4:46 PM to 5:39 PM before resuming.

Although the station issued waiting tickets to manage the crowd, they ultimately had to extend the closing time.

When was that closing time decided?

It was 8:30 PM when Seoul Election Commission officials discussed the matter and reported it to the Seoul Election Commission Chairperson, and it was not until 8:50 PM that the decision to "extend until 10:00 PM" was finalized.

This decision was made two hours and 50 minutes after the standard 6:00 PM closing time.

The NEC explained that the delay in decision-making was due to persistent disturbances at the polling station.

Among those who had received waiting tickets but returned home, 12 people were ultimately unable to exercise their right to vote.

[Cho Hyun-wook / Chairperson of the NEC Fact-Finding Committee (June 17, KBS1 Radio 'Jeongyeok Sisa'): There are currently 12 people who came to vote, found no ballots, waited, and eventually left without being able to cast their vote.]

In the report, the NEC also mentioned measures to prevent a recurrence.

However, one section states that they will consider introducing an "AI-based situation management system" to establish a reporting structure.

Critics point out that it is inappropriate to blame the "reporting structure" when the crisis was largely exacerbated by a lack of a "crisis response system," even though local polling stations had reported various issues to the upper-level election commissions.

[Lee Jae-mook / Professor of Political Science and Diplomacy at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies: The staff in Songpa actually reported the issues. The fundamental problem is, when an emergency issue arises, at what level should a rapid response be made for each specific case? Isn't that the most important thing?]

(Video reporting: Oh Young-chun, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Shin Se-eun | Graphics: Kim Han-gil, Seok Jin-sun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.