It has been confirmed that the ballot paper storage box at Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station in Songpa District, Seoul, where a ballot shortage occurred during the 9th nationwide local elections held simultaneously (June 3 local elections), was discarded.
The National Election Commission said that by law there is no obligation to preserve ballot paper storage boxes, and that the disposal occurred before the court decided to designate them as subject to preservation of evidence.
According to the Seoul Election Commission and others on the 11th, the ballot paper storage box at Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station was handed over to a disposal company at about 12 p.m. on the 9th. The commission said, "Unlike ballot boxes containing marked ballots, simple storage boxes have no legal preservation obligation."
However, at about 5:30 p.m. on the 9th, Kim Ji-yeon, Director General and single-judge presiding over Civil Division 51 at the Seoul Eastern District Court, partially granted an application for preservation of evidence filed by Reform Party Supreme Council member Kim Jeong-cheol, who ran for Seoul mayor in the June 3 local elections. The preservation targets included the ballot paper storage box at Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station, along with closed-circuit (CC) TV footage and text messages of commission staff.
The next day, an on-site inspection was conducted at the apartment senior center where the Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station had been installed to preserve the ballot paper storage box as evidence, but it ended up empty-handed.
The ballot paper storage box subject to preservation of evidence is cited as an item showing the commission's poor management. The number of printed ballots written on the outside of the box was 1,900, and it was labeled as box 1 of 1. Considering that the number of voters at this polling station is 3,856, it means that only 49.3% of the ballots were prepared, falling short of the "at least 50% printed" guideline.
Kim, the Supreme Council member, plans to consider filing an additional application for preservation of evidence. A petition challenging the validity of the election or the election of the winner is also expected to be filed on the 15th.