TL;DR:

- A voter at a Seoul polling station says he was close to receiving ballot papers twice and used the incident to expose what he described as lax election-day controls.
- The reported loophole came from separating voter-roll verification from the actual ballot-distribution line, allowing unverified people to stand in the pickup queue.
- Election staff said the separate line was created because handing out three ballot papers per voter was taking too long, but the episode triggered protests and a police call.

Article text:

A man at a polling station in Seoul attempted to receive ballot papers twice during the June 3 local elections, then reported himself after concluding that duplicate issuance was actually possible under the site’s lax management system.

According to election officials, the incident happened around 11:40 a.m. at Polling Station No. 1 in Dangsan 2-dong, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul.

The man reportedly tried the second pickup to demonstrate that weak on-site controls made it possible to receive ballot papers twice.

He observed that voters who had already completed identity verification and voter-roll checks were then sent to a separate waiting line to receive their ballot papers, and judged that this structure might allow duplicate pickup.

After changing his outer clothing, he allegedly skipped the identity-check line, went straight to the ballot-distribution queue, and protested to election staff just before a second issuance was about to occur.

The polling station was operating so that voters completed identity verification and voter-roll comparison at the entrance and then moved to a separate line for ballot distribution. People who had not gone through identity verification could still stand in that ballot queue.

The man said that even though he had just finished voting, he was able to line up again for ballot pickup, arguing that if the process worked this way, staff on site would have no reliable way to filter out someone trying to receive ballots twice.

Other citizens raised similar concerns. One voter said staff could not even tell whether she was the second or third person receiving ballots and argued that ballot papers should be handed over immediately at the spot where voter-roll checks are completed.

Officials at the site acknowledged that the correct procedure is to issue ballot papers immediately after identity and voter-list checks, but said a separate queue was used because distributing three ballot papers to each voter was taking too long.

As more voters protested, tempers flared and police were called to the scene. The dispute has intensified concern that serious loopholes existed in the management of ballot distribution at the polling station.

Under the Public Official Election Act, anyone attempting to vote through impersonation, forged identification or other improper means can face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won.

Source: [https://www.hankyung.com/article/202606034502i](https://www.hankyung.com/article/202606034502i)

Exclusive: Voter demonstrates possible double ballot pickup at Seoul polling station