SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Yonhap) -- More than 3,600 votes were temporarily omitted from turnout data for the June 3 local elections in Siheung, the election watchdog acknowledged Tuesday, amid an investigation into alleged data manipulation by election officials.

According to election data obtained by Rep. Kim Eun-hye of the main opposition People Power Party, voter turnout in the city, just south of Seoul, stood at 22,914 at 9 a.m. on election day, before surging to 42,482 in the next hourly update at 10 a.m.

The National Election Commission (NEC) attributed the sudden surge to an error by the local election commission that failed to report 3,612 votes from three neighborhoods for the 9 a.m. update.

Instead of correcting the 9 a.m. turnout, the Gyeonggi Province election office, which oversees voting in the city, instructed for the votes to be included in the next update, resulting in distorted turnout data.

When the NEC reported the 9 a.m. turnout, Siheung had the lowest turnout rate of 5.2 percent among all municipalities in Gyeonggi Province. Had the votes been included at the time, Siheung would likely not have had the lowest turnout.

Kim said she plans to submit the data to investigative authorities, noting that similar data patterns have been found in other areas.

The latest revelation comes after a prosecution-police task force was launched in June to investigate ballot shortages reported on the election day, which forced some voters to turn back without casting their ballots.

The task force has since found evidence suggesting that NEC officials and election workers covered up errors in turnout.

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

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