The National Election Commission (NEC) has allocated 13.2 billion won in next year’s budget to replace election equipment, including ballot sorting machines, which have been embroiled in hacking controversy. This amount excludes the contribution requested from local governments across the country. The local government reportedly refused, saying, “Election work is a national affair.”
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National Election Commission sets aside 13.3 billion won to replace election equipment
According to the ‘Report on the Review of the National Election Commission’s Revenue and Expenditure Budget’ reported by the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee expert office on the 7th, the National Election Commission has allocated 13.266 billion won (including procurement fees) for replacing election equipment in next year’s budget. This money is needed to purchase early voting operating equipment (KRW 10.162 billion) and 1,381 ballot sorting machines (KRW 2.944 billion). The National Election Commission said that many of the ballot sorting machines were past their useful life and were not functioning properly, so they needed to be replaced.
Equipment related to early voting includes ballot dispensers and identity verification machines. Among them, the identity verification machine is a device that recognizes the voter’s ID card and then receives the signature. A ballot sorting machine is equipment that sorts ballots by political party and candidate at a polling station. This equipment is designed as one piece with a laptop computer. Ballots are processed at a rapid rate of 340 per minute. It also has communication functions. An official from the National Election Commission said, “The laptop installed in the ballot sorting machine was manufactured without a wireless LAN card installed, so communication with the outside world is not possible.”
The durability period is 5 years from the ballot issuance period and 10 years from the identity verification period. The ballot sorting system is also 10 years old.
The National Election Commission explained that although it is possible to use it through repair even after its useful life has passed, it was decided to manufacture a new product rather than repair it, taking comprehensive consideration of the product’s management status, repair cost, and lifespan after repair.
The National Election Commission continued, “There is a need to improve equipment functions to respond to the emergence of new types of identification, such as mobile identification.” This is interpreted to mean that it will be possible to participate in voting in next year’s general election using the ‘mobile ID’ provided by various platforms.
The National Election Commission initially determined that a total of 65.53 billion won would be needed this year and next year. Of this, next year’s budget is about 32.8 billion won. However, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance is said to have set aside only 13.266 billion won, assuming that 17 cities and provinces across the country would share 30% (19.659 billion won) of the 65.53 billion won.
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“Lack of tax revenue” “No basis” Local government rejects
However, the 17 cities and provinces across the country say they cannot share the burden. As a result of the National Election Commission’s investigation into whether it was possible to organize election expenses last July, not a single place answered ‘possible’. Many metropolitan organizations, including Gyeonggi Province, Daegu, Daejeon City, and Jeonbuk Province, cited “deteriorating financial conditions due to lack of tax revenue” as the reason. In addition, Seoul and Sejong City argued that “election equipment is owned by the state (asset acquisition entity = National Election Commission), so the state must bear the burden.” In addition, Busan City explained, “If the budget is prepared without a clear basis, it is judged that it will be uncertain whether the budget will be passed by the city council.”
Under the Public Official Election Act, the government is required to bear the costs of managing presidential and general elections. An official from the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee said, “It seems that the National Election Commission has prepared next year’s budget considering the fact that the National Election Commission and local governments shared the cost of producing election equipment in the 2014 and 2018 local elections in a ‘3 to 7’ ratio.” The National Election Commission plans to receive delivery of election equipment by January 20th next year ahead of the general election.
Meanwhile, the National Intelligence Service (National Intelligence Service) recently conducted a security inspection against the National Election Commission and found that it is possible to hack the National Election Commission’s internal network using routine methods and manipulate election-related systems, including early voting and vote counting results.
In addition, the ‘Integrated Voter List System’, which manages voter registration status and voting status, can be hacked, and can be marked as ‘people who voted in advance as people who did not vote’ and ‘people who did not vote in advance as people who voted’. They said it could be done. The National Intelligence Service explained that it is also possible to register ghost voters who do not exist as normal voters.
Minwook Kim ([email protected])
2023-11-08 03:25:51
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