What happened
The polling stations ran out of ballots
On 3 June 2026, the day of South Korea's 9th nationwide local elections, polling stations across the country ran short of ballot papers — and for the first time, voters were turned away unable to cast their vote on time.
And then — the students answered
189 universities
answered at once
In the days that followed, student councils at 189 universities across the country issued 275 statements. Nearly 86% of them arrived in just two days.
“Where a citizen's vote was stopped, democracy stopped with it.”
Sogang University · Central Operating Committee
“A right taken away cannot be won back through silence.”
Dongyang University · Student Council
How the day unfolded (3–4 June)
- Jun 3, ~1 PMPolling stations in parts of Seoul, including Songpa-gu, ran out of ballots, and voters began to wait.
- Jun 3, ~4:10 PMVoting was suspended at some stations and did not resume until around 5:20 PM.
- Jun 3, eveningThe election commission issued waiting numbers to voters who had arrived before 6 PM and extended the close of voting to 10 PM.
- Jun 3, 9 PMThe Secretary-General of the National Election Commission issued a public apology.
- Jun 3 night – Jun 4Separately, standoffs broke out outside some polling stations and commission offices, where people demanding a halt to the count blocked ballot boxes from being moved. At the No. 2 station in Jamsil-7-dong, Seoul, a ballot box could not be removed for about 35 hours, delaying the count.
- Jun 4, early morningThe National Election Commission held an emergency session and stated that a ballot shortage is not grounds for postponing the election or holding a re-vote.
- Jun 4, daytimeThe commission announced it would set up a fact-finding committee to determine the cause.
The facts
- By the commission's 5 June count, ballots ran short at 50 polling stations across 6 cities and provinces, and voting was briefly suspended at 22 of them. (Seoul, Incheon, Daegu, Busan, Ulsan, South Gyeongsang)
- Each local government had reportedly been funded to print ballots for 1.1 times its registered voters — prompting criticism that this was a failure of distribution, not an absolute shortage.
- The shock cut deep because it was the very commission charged with safeguarding the right to vote — guaranteed by Article 24 of the Constitution — that ended up keeping some citizens from voting.