In the presidential election in 2022, in which candidate Yoon Suk-yeol was elected, his campaign encouraged voters by saying, “Early voting manipulation is impossible, so vote with confidence.” Courtesy of the People Power Party

“There is overwhelming evidence of election fraud in our country.”

In a handwritten letter made public after his arrest in January this year, former President Yoon Suk-yeol cited suspicions of election fraud as a justification for declaring martial law on December 3 last year. Even the democratically elected president was stimulated by conspiracy theories, shaking the very foundation of democracy. The upcoming presidential election on June 3 has left Korean society with the task of putting an end to anti-intellectual conspiracy theories and solidifying trust in election management. Based on the Supreme Court's ruling and the National Election Commission (NEC)'s explanation, we examined and fact-checked some of the key claims made by election fraud conspiracy theorists.

Korean elections use ‘physical Ballots,’ even candidate Yoon Suk-yeol also said, ‘Tampering Is Impossible’

Election fraud conspiracy theorists mainly focus their allegations on early voting. They claim that the advance voting results from the general election in 2020 were manipulated, pointing to the fact that in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, the average vote ratio between the Democratic Party of Korea and the United Future Party (now the People Power Party) was allegedly “63 to 36.” However, this claim is based on flawed calculations that ignore votes received by other parties. The actual ratio, including candidates from all parties, is “61 to 34 to 4” in Seoul, “58 to 33 to 7” in Incheon, “60 to 34 to 4” in Gyeonggi Province. Other regions also showed varying ratios. Notably, during the presidential election in 2022 in which Yoon was elected, his campaign urged voters to cast early ballots, assuring them that “tampering is impossible.”

When a voter enters an early voting station, their identity is verified and a fingerprint is taken. At that moment, a voting record is created on the NEC’s integrated voter registration system server. Election fraud conspiracy theorists claim that the system could be hacked to create "ghost voters." However, the dedicated closed network that connects early voting stations to the integrated voter system is physically isolated from all external communication networks, making outside access impossible.

The conspiracy theorists also claimed that the inclusion of a 117-year-old female voter on the voter list in Incheon’s Yeonsu-eul district during the general election in 2020 as evidence of manipulation. However, the Supreme Court dismissed the case seeking to nullify the election results in the district, stating that “the discrepancy between the voter list and the resident registration records could be due to outdated information or voters whose residence is officially unconfirmed.” Even if a ghost voter were somehow created through hacking, it would still not result in an actual vote unless someone physically impersonated that voter and cast a ballot, since Korea uses physical ballots rather than electronic voting.

‘Fake ballots’ are lie

Voters receive a ballot printed by an inkjet printer and cast their votes in a designated voting booth at the polling station. Voters within the district simply place their ballots into the ballot box. Voters outside their registered district, however, place their ballots in a return envelope before putting the envelope into the ballot box.

Election conspiracy theorists claim that the evidence of tampering includes the "Rising Sun flag ballot,” in which the red stamp of the polling officer is smashed, and the “cabbage leaf ballot,” in which the printing of the district ballot and the proportional representation ballot partially overlap. According to the NEC’s demonstration on April 10, the "Rising Sun flag ballot” was created when the ink stamp was stamped on the inkpad, and the “cabbage leaf ballot” was created when the district ballot was pulled out of the printer before it was completely ejected. The Supreme Court said of these ballots, “If early voting ballots were forged, there would be no reason to produce them in such a strange form (with these irregularities), leaving room for doubt."

Special seals are used to secure the early voting ballot boxes. If the seal is removed, the words "OPEN VOID" appear on the surface. When the early voting ballot boxes are transported, they are accompanied by observers recommended by each political party, escorting police officers, and election officials.

The entrance to the storage area for early voting ballot boxes is equipped with a double security system and magnetic sensors. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) continuously broadcasts and records footage of the storage area 24/7. The conspiracy theorists point to instances where there were transmission issues leading to screen freezes as evidence of “early ballot box switching.” However, since the footage is recorded, post-election verification is possible.

In his handwritten letter, former President Yoon claimed, "In the election lawsuit, enormous numbers of fake ballots were found during the ballot verification." However, there have been no cases where fake ballots were acknowledged in the verification of election lawsuits.

Korean citizens check ballots in person, foreigners can't participate

Once the main voting concludes, both the early voting and main voting ballot boxes are transferred to the counting station. After the election officials confirm the seals, they open the ballot boxes and organize the ballots, which are then sorted by candidate using a ballot sorter. Election fraud conspiracy theorists claim that the ballot sorter can be hacked externally, but the ballot sorter is physically incapable of connecting to the internet, as it has had both wired and wireless LAN cards removed.

The ballots sorted by the machine are first verified manually by poll workers, and then secondly verified by placing them in a screening machine, similar to a bank teller's bill counter. Despite the sorting by the machine and the two verification processes by poll workers, any ballots that are unclear regarding the intended candidate are marked for rechecking. These ballots are then manually verified by poll workers to determine whether they are valid or invalid. The counting process, including the vote tally, is recorded on a "counting status report" and is then sent to the verification committee for further review.

After all members of the NEC in each district, city, and county verify the accuracy of the entries in the counting status report and sign and seal it, the chairperson of the counting station, usually a judge, publicly announces the vote tally for each candidate. The counting results are posted in the counting station as a copy of the counting status report. The results are then entered into the NEC’s reporting system and made publicly available to the public. Once the counting is completed, the sorting team places the ballots and related election records in storage boxes, seals them with the chairman’s stamp, and stores them.

From start to finish, the election is managed not only by the NEC staff, but also by local governments, the police, and the fire department. Observers recommended by political parties and candidates are allowed to freely monitor the process and take photos and videos. Election fraud conspiracy theorists claim that Chinese nationals infiltrate and manipulate elections. In response, the NEC changed its regulations in 2023 to stipulate that only Korean nationals can be appointed as election and vote counting staff members.

For election fraud to be possible, the NEC’s computer system would need to be hacked, while simultaneously bribing hundreds of thousands of election workers and observers to ensure that the manipulated data matches the actual counting results precisely. In the general election in 2022, the total number of election management staff was 699,052. Even just considering the 3,565 early voting stations across the country, there were 103,237 election workers and 98,080 observers.