Surrounding Early Voting... The Persistent 'Election Fraud Conspiracy Theory'

Since the April 15 General Election, Some Conservatives Have Persistently Raised 'Early Voting Manipulation' Claims
Yoon Seok-yeol and Lee Jun-seok Also Mentioned 'Election Fraud Conspiracy' While Encouraging Early Voting
Experts Say "Baseless Conspiracy Theories Are Irresponsible"

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is campaigning on the afternoon of the 22nd in Naepo New Town, Hongseong-gun, Chungnam [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] Conspiracy theories about 'election fraud' originating from the opposition are being raised repeatedly. Unlike some conservative figures who claimed that early voting itself was manipulated after the April 15 general election, in this presidential election, Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, and Lee Jun-seok, the party leader, made statements suggesting that the government could interfere in the election or that there are dishonest forces, in order to encourage early voting. However, since baseless claims are likely to only foster distrust in the election, premature mentions of 'election fraud' have been criticized as irresponsible.

On the 1st, Lee made a claim implying the existence of 'forces obstructing early voting' but later retracted it. Lee shared photos of two ballots with the Central Election Commission (CEC) stamps placed in different positions on his Facebook, saying, "There are forces trying to obstruct early voting by stirring up anxiety over concerns about election fraud."

He added, "The photo on the left is a ballot clumsily forged by forces trying to block conservative voters from early voting, with the stamp placed to cover the characters '투' (tu) and '표' (pyo) in the word '투표' (vote). It's really low. Who would play such a prank?"

Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, made a claim suggesting that there are forces obstructing early voting by distributing fake ballot photos with the intention of lowering the early voting rate, but later retracted the statement.
Photo by Lee, captured from the leader's Facebook.

In the photo shared by Lee, the stamp on the right ballot is placed over the word '투표' (vote), while on the left ballot, the stamp is only over the character '표' (pyo). Based on this, Lee appeared to claim that fake ballots exist and that forces obstructing early voting are spreading these to foster distrust in the election.

However, it was revealed that the photos were not manipulated but were actual ballots used at overseas voting stations, and Lee later reversed his earlier claim. On the same day, Lee posted on his Facebook, correcting himself by saying, "The ballots I posted earlier were overseas voting ballots," along with an article reporting that a voter who took photos of ballots at an overseas voting station in Australia and shared them on social media was reported to the prosecution for violating the Public Official Election Act.

Candidate Yoon also emphasized early voting but previously made claims about 'election fraud conspiracy theories' similar to Lee. On the 28th of last month, during a campaign at the Cheonggok Rotary in Donghae City, Gangwon Province, Yoon said, "If the government announces that tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases are confirmed on election day, they can block voting on that day." This implies that the government could manipulate the daily COVID-19 case numbers and use this to interfere in the election.

On the morning of September 9, 2020, in front of the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Min Kyung-wook, the standing representative of the 4.15 National Struggle Headquarters against Election Fraud, claimed that the 4.15 mail-in voting was manipulated and urged the Supreme Court to declare the election invalid. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The opposition's 'election fraud' controversy has continued since the April 15 general election. However, unlike Lee and Yoon, who raised conspiracy theories to encourage early voting, previous 'election fraud' controversies involved claims that early voting itself was manipulated. Hwang Kyo-ahn, former leader of the United Future Party (now People Power Party), and Min Kyung-wook, former member of the Liberty Korea Party (now People Power Party), raised 'early voting manipulation theories,' such as ballots being leaked externally, fueling distrust in the election.

Ultimately, on the 1st, the CEC reported them to the prosecution for obstructing voting participation by spreading early voting manipulation theories. The CEC stated that the two individuals disseminated claims through newspaper ads, rallies, and YouTube channels alleging ▲the establishment of secret temporary offices by the CEC for election fraud ▲illegal use of stamps on early voting ballots and QR codes without legal basis ▲connection of ballot sorting machines to external internet networks.

The CEC said, "They did not make even minimal efforts to verify facts and repeatedly published advertisements in major daily newspapers with the message that 'the CEC is preparing election fraud in the 20th presidential election, so early voting should not be done.' This caused voters to accept false information about early voting as truth, discouraging participation or hindering early voting."

Experts criticized the raising of conspiracy theories without evidence as irresponsible behavior. Political commentator Lee Jong-hoon said, "Mentioning election fraud without alternatives is inappropriate. To raise issues that help voters, one must explain not only the suspicions but also what the problems are and how to respond. The current conspiracy theories can only be futile efforts."