The Democratic Party of Korea concluded there was no problem with the allegation raised by Gov. Kim Yung-rok of "2,308 ARS outages" during the Jeonnam–Gwangju special mayoral runoff. The party said there was some confusion, but it immediately took corrective measures and reached an agreement with both candidates' camps.
On the 30th, after the party affairs committee meeting, the Democratic Party drew a line under the controversy over ARS voting errors raised during the Jeonnam–Gwangju special mayoral primary. Cho Seung-rae, the Democratic Party secretary-general, said, "The party election commission offered an apology to the candidates' camps and took measures to remedy the damage, and it went through consultations," adding, "As a result of a thorough investigation of the matter, there were no problems in the subsequent process."
This follows Gov. Kim, who lost to Rep. Min Hyung-bae in the Democratic Party of Korea's integrated Jeonnam–Gwangju special mayoral runoff, requesting a reinvestigation by the central party over ARS (automatic response system) errors that occurred during the runoff.
Cho, the secretary-general, explained, "The ARS method in question is structured so that members of the electoral college who reside in the area and are either our party's supporters or unaffiliated can participate in the vote," adding, "If a person is confirmed as residing in the relevant area among the overall safe numbers, they can vote."
However, he explained, "In the first round of calls on Apr. 12, three choices were configured as 'Gwangju, Jeonnam, and other areas,' but because the existing ARS was applied as is, when selecting 'Jeonnam,' the call was terminated, causing confusion." In this process, a total of 2,308 errors were identified.
Cho then disclosed a fact-check statement signed by both candidates' camps and said, "As soon as we recognized the problem, we halted the calls, checked the cause, supplemented the system, and resumed the vote," adding, "We decided to resume after verification in the presence of representatives from both candidates' camps."
He also emphasized that the vote proceeded normally without disruption. Cho said, "For those whose calls were terminated after selecting Jeonnam, redialing was carried out, and five calls were completed to a total of 2,803 people," adding, "Of those, 741 actually participated in the vote."