[Inside Chodong]Election Fraud Conspiracy Theories: I Want to Live in a Normal World

The place where I heard the news of the December 3 emergency martial law was Vietnam, where we had gone on a family trip to celebrate my father's 70th birthday. I remember finishing dinner and talking with my family in the room when we saw President Yoon Suk-yeol declare martial law through a national address video, and we looked at each other with stunned faces as if we had lost our minds.

What was even more absurd was that President Yoon cited "election fraud" as the reason for declaring martial law. Election fraud is a conspiracy theory dismissed as nonsense by anyone who has practical experience with elections at the operational level. President Yoon may have believed such a conspiracy theory because he has only ever participated in one election, and that too as a candidate with no operational experience. However, it is unacceptable for a president representing the nation to believe in election fraud conspiracy theories.

The idea that election fraud is impossible is something anyone who has ever been to a vote counting center can immediately understand. The vote counting center is not only staffed by the election commission and personnel involved in counting. There are also vote counting observers. These observers, selected through applications from political parties, candidates, and the election commission, monitor the counting process. They are free to move around the counting site. In particular, observers related to political parties and candidates watch closely because the counting determines the success or failure of their candidate. Additionally, any voter in the Republic of Korea who wishes to observe can verify the counting process from the observation seats. If there had been vote counting fraud in the recent general election, it would have required deceiving all vote counting observers nationwide, including those from opposing parties and candidates. Is that even possible?

There are also claims that the central election commission's computer system was manipulated to change the election results. This is nonsense when you look at the counting process. In general elections, each regional election commission is responsible for counting votes in their respective constituencies, then reports the results to the central election commission, which then announces the results. The counting progress we learn about through broadcasts and the central election commission’s website usually has a delay of about 30 minutes to an hour compared to the actual counting site. Because of this, almost all candidate camps first learn the counting results through their dispatched vote counting observers on-site, and later compare these results with the central election commission’s announcements. If the results from the counting site and the central election commission differed, it would cause an uproar. In other words, the central election commission’s computer system merely aggregates data sent from each regional election commission?nothing more, nothing less.

Claims that hacking the ballot sorting machines and electronic counting machines manipulates the vote counting are also absurd. Ballots sorted by the ballot sorting machines are manually counted by people. During this process, it is also verified whether the sorting was done correctly. Afterwards, the number of ballots counted by hand is rechecked using the electronic counting machines. Although it is called automation, it is essentially manual counting. The ballot sorting machines and electronic counting machines are merely tools that assist manual counting. Yet, there are still people who shout about election fraud and vote counting fraud.

The election commission officials I have met during my reporting have taken great pride in overseeing voting, which forms the foundation of democracy. They are especially more fair than any other institution and strive to provide as much information as possible regarding election-related questions. This emergency martial law has caused great distress not only to the public but also to the election commission officials who work with a sense of duty. I sincerely hope we can live in a normal world.