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  • 7 hours ago
Protesters in South Korea are keeping up pressure on the government to redo local elections last week that they see as botched. Some polling places ran out of ballots, meaning some voters couldn't cast their votes.
Transcript
00:03Protesters haven't left this vote-counting center in South Korea since a controversial election inflamed the country.
00:09Fifty polling places across the country ran out of ballots during local elections last Wednesday, leaving some people unable to
00:16vote.
00:17Officials say the shortage was the result of a waist-cutting measure.
00:22They say so many people had voted early in recent elections that there were many unused ballots left over,
00:29so this time it only printed enough for about half of the electorate.
00:34But the protesters are not satisfied.
00:37And though their numbers have fallen off since a riot on Friday and a mass gathering of 10,000 people
00:42on Saturday,
00:43their anger at what they see as a botched vote hasn't faded.
00:47As this is a democratic country, the fact that some people were unable to vote,
00:52along with the inadequate response from the National Election Commission, naturally left me, as a citizen, feeling angry.
00:58President Lee Jae-myung has apologized and called for an investigation.
01:02And the chair of the Election Commission has resigned.
01:05But some protesters see signs of something underhanded and say there's only one way to make amends.
01:11It is a complete failure and a complete fraud.
01:14That is why I believe this was indeed an election fraud and that a re-election must be held as
01:19a result.
01:21Some of the protesters even see a possible model in Taiwan,
01:25where all votes must be cast in person at a specific polling spot,
01:29and the counting is decidedly low-tech.
01:33Interestingly enough, one reason election fraud is considered impossible in Taiwan
01:38is that they don't use electronic voting equipment.
01:41Instead, ballots are counted by hand, one by one, kind of like the class elections we had back in school.
01:47Because the votes are counted manually, election fraud can't really happen in Taiwan.
01:53These protesters hope their vigils will bring the redo they see as the only way to ensure all eligible voters
01:59have their voices heard.
02:01Leon Lian and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
02:04They are ....
02:06They did write Non чет operators.
02:06They sued their oublows..
02:06In two days...
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