A special counsel team in South Korea on Tuesday searched a Seoul handball arena that served as a vote counting center, as part of a probe into an unprecedented shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections. Special counsel Lee Tae-han’s team dispatched investigators to the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in southeastern Seoul to secure election records and surveillance camera footage.
The search, which began around 8:30 AM on October 27, 2026, involved two prosecutors and 12 forensic investigators. Their objective was to secure various documents related to the voting and counting processes in Songpa-gu, a ward in southeastern Seoul. The team is also collecting CCTV footage to check for any signs of unauthorized access to the storage site.
Public outcry and resignations
During the local elections, multiple polling stations reported ballot shortages, forcing some voters to leave without casting their votes. This sparked significant public outcry. Seoul’s southeastern Songpa Ward was particularly affected, experiencing delays in the voting process and long waits for voters.
In response to the controversy, Roh Tae-ak, then chairman of the National Election Commission (NEC), South Korea’s election authority, resigned on June 5, 2026, taking responsibility for the ballot shortage. On August 18, 2026, President Lee Jae Myung appointed Lee Tae-han as special counsel to investigate allegations against the NEC.
Ballots secured amid protests
The Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium currently houses 2.47 million ballot papers cast in Seoul’s southeastern Songpa Ward. Protesters have blocked their removal, demanding accountability and a rerun of the elections. The special counsel team plans to inspect these stored voter ballots on October 28, 2026.
This inspection is not a recount of votes but aims to verify the quantity and authenticity of the ballots, as well as to check for potential hacking traces or errors in the voting and counting equipment.
Scope of the investigation
The special counsel team began its work on September 7, with a 150-day investigation period. The team is investigating 12 allegations, including the ballot shortage, manipulation of election statistics, and preferential contracts by the NEC.
On September 17, the team launched a full-scale investigation by raiding 10 locations, including the NEC and local election offices. On September 15, the team confirmed that 30 city, county, and district election offices nationwide had incorrectly entered voter numbers according to time slots, and on September 22, they announced six additional confirmed cases.
