The Election Commission: "Coating on Candidate Marking Area? Baseless Fake News"

Submitting Notification and Rebuttal... "Valid if Half Marked and Standard Terms Are Clear"

On the 28th, nine days before the 20th presidential election (March 9), an official from the National Election Commission is holding up a printed ballot paper at a printing shop in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, where the ballots are being printed.
Photo by Jinhyung Kang, Anyang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] On the 9th, the National Election Commission (NEC) stated that claims circulating that the voting paper for a specific candidate in the 20th presidential election was coated are "fake news."

In a notice distributed that morning, the NEC said, "The rumor that the voting paper from the early voting on March 4-5 and the ongoing election day voting has the marking area for a specific candidate coated, causing the stamp to be only half-imprinted, is completely baseless fake news."

They added, "Even if only half of the marking is stamped on the ballot, as long as it is clear that the official marking tool was used, the vote is considered valid."

According to the NEC and police in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, around 6:30 a.m. that day, a middle-aged male voter at a polling station in Gangnam-gu caused a commotion by shouting complaints that "the stamp on the ballot was only half-imprinted."

A Gangnam-gu NEC official explained, "Since the pressure applied when stamping varies from person to person and a partially stamped ballot is still valid, there is no problem. However, for the person who complained, we replaced the marking tool with another one."