recount

July 19 (Asia Today) — A South Korean parliamentary committee investigating a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections is divided over whether to publicly recount about 2.48 million ballots stored at a counting center in Seoul.

The ruling Democratic Party argues that the recount should begin promptly because establishing a special counsel investigation would take time.

The opposition People Power Party says lawmakers should first pursue legislation authorizing a special counsel to determine who was responsible for the ballot shortage.

The National Assembly’s special investigation committee is considering a public recount of 2,476,661 ballots stored at the Olympic Park counting center in Seoul’s Songpa District.

The disagreement over whether to prioritize the recount or the special counsel investigation could determine how the committee proceeds with its inquiry.

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party, who chairs the committee, said the recount and special counsel investigation should proceed simultaneously.

“A recount and a special counsel investigation are not alternatives,” Yoon wrote on Facebook.

“A public recount is a process for verifying the facts before the people, while a special counsel investigation is a process for determining responsibility in accordance with the law and principles,” he said.

Yoon said a recount could not replace a special counsel investigation and that an investigation could not eliminate the need for a recount.

“Transparent verification and a thorough investigation must proceed together,” he said.

Other People Power Party members of the committee have indicated that establishing a special counsel investigation should take priority.

Rep. Choi Bo-yoon told reporters that lawmakers had not determined the legal procedure under which a recount could be conducted.

“We have to question whether it is appropriate to set the recount schedule first under these circumstances,” Choi said.

She said the People Power Party wanted discussions on a special counsel to proceed quickly so the necessary legislation could be passed.

Rep. Seo Beom-su, the committee’s opposition secretary, was reportedly coordinating opinions within the party and considering a compromise.

The Democratic Party argues that an open, manual recount should be conducted first to resolve questions surrounding the ballot shortage.

Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do said his party had proposed an immediate public recount and manual count to ensure no doubts remained.

“The People Power Party, which had demanded a recount, has now changed its position and says a special counsel investigation must come first,” Han said during a party policy meeting at the National Assembly.

Han accused the opposition party of lacking genuine interest in determining whether voters’ political rights had been violated.

The committee is expected to discuss whether to conduct the public recount and what verification procedures to use during its second hearing Wednesday.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260720010006654

ATLANTA — Legislation to keep Georgia’s embattled vote-counting method in place for this year’s midterm elections faced strong opposition from state Democrats on Monday after Republicans in the Georgia Senate approved an amendment that would require a hand recount of ballots.

Georgia’s governor, Republican Brian Kemp, had called lawmakers into a special session in part to address a July 1 deadline that was set to ban the QR codes used for the official vote count. Legislators passed a law two years ago that set that deadline, but then failed to find a replacement for tabulating votes.

Some voting rights activists had warned that any changes so close to the midterm elections could create confusion at polling sites. Georgia is a political swing state where voters will decide high-profile races for U.S. Senate and governor in the fall.

State lawmakers last week appeared to have reached a deal on a bill to push the July 1 deadline back to 2028. But Republicans in the Senate approved an amendment over the weekend that would require a full hand recount of the two races at the top of ballot. In November, that would be the governor’s contest and a U.S. Senate election.

The amended bill passed the Senate on a party line vote, but the House did not immediately schedule it for a vote on Monday.

Georgia Democrats say a hand recount in November would create chaos that could sow doubt about the results. Research has shown that hand-counting is more prone to error, costlier and likely to delay results. It has gained traction, however, with Republican lawmakers in some states amid President Trump’s repeated false claims about a stolen 2020 election.

“What we are experiencing is a Republican Senate who’s acting extraordinarily irresponsibly with Georgia’s elections and people’s votes,” state Rep. Saira Draper, a Democrat, said Monday.

Republican state Sen. Max Burns defended the Senate bill, saying hand counts and machine counts can “coexist and confirm each other’s ultimate results.”

“This amendment to a good bill is to strengthen it so that the voters have confidence in election security,” he said.

Georgia’s current election system uses a QR code printed on ballots to tally the votes. It has drawn the ire of Trump, who claimed without evidence that voting machines in Georgia deleted or switched votes in the 2020 election. He narrowly lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden that year.

Georgia voting machines have been the subject of conspiracy theories, which manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems fought vigorously in court. But election integrity advocates also have raised concerns about the machines, arguing that they are vulnerable to hacking and that voters cannot be sure their selections are accurately reflected because people can’t read QR codes.

The Georgia Senate bill would extend the July 1 deadline to Jan. 1, 2028. It also would create a committee to recommend requirements for a new voting system. The committee would have until Jan. 31, 2027, to report its findings. State lawmakers would be responsible for funding, buying and implementing the new system for the 2028 election cycle.

The special session also was supposed to redraw Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts for the 2028 election, but state lawmakers postponed those plans.

Thanawala writes for the Associated Press.