South Korean posts misrepresent covered CCTV cameras as evidence of vote-rigging scheme

Published on June 3, 2026 at 11:02
3 min read
By Hawon Jung, AFP South Korea

As early votes were cast in South Korea's June 3 local elections, photos appearing to show CCTV cameras at polling stations covered by boxes, bags and cups were shared in posts claiming it was evidence of a vote-rigging scheme. A 2014 rule, however, requires cameras near polling booths to be shut off or covered up to ensure voters’ ballots remain secret. An election expert also told AFP the claim was "nonsense", as pulling off such a scheme would require every single person at every voting site across the country -- people of all different political views and backgrounds -- to act together.

The photo appearing to show surveillance cameras covered up by cardboard boxes was shared on Facebook on May 30, 2026, when early-voting for local elections in South Korea was taking place.

Its Korean-language caption says it was taken in an early-voting polling station in Samcheok (city), Gangwon province.

"Criminals like it when there is no CCTV. Criminals like destroying evidence. The core of fair election lies in monitoring. The National Election Commission (NEC) is not monitoring on purpose," it says.

Screenshot of the false post captured on June 2, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

The same photo was shared elsewhere in Threads, Instagram and X posts, as well as on a far-right website and online forums. Similar photos showing cameras covered with bags and paper cups also circulated on social media ahead of the June 3 election.

"What might they be doing in places where they openly covered the CCTV with boxes like this?" says a comment on one of the posts.

Another says: "They are openly advertising to the whole world that they are rigging the elections."

The June 3 poll is the first national election since the 2025 presidential vote to replace jailed ex-leader Yoon Suk Yeol, and is seen as a referendum on Yoon's former political rival and successor, President Lee Jae Myung, and his centre-left Democratic Party (archived link).

But the circulating posts misrepresent an election rule that has been in place since 2014 to ensure ballot secrecy (archived link).

Voter privacy

The posts are the latest example of conspiracy theories about vote-rigging and illegal voting that have resurfaced in the lead up to the local polls (archived link).

South Korea's election authorities redesigned polling booths in 2014 to remove curtains after voters complained they were cumbersome (archived link).

To ensure ballots remained secret, the NEC also adopted a rule that surveillance cameras positioned near booths in polling stations -- typically public offices or schools -- should be turned off or covered (archived link).

Screenshot of the NEC explanation for why some cameras at polling stations should be covered or switched off, highlighted by AFP

Officials were advised to make a polling booth with curtains available for voters who requested the arrangement.

And as a wave of voting fraud claims dented public trust in elections and as more voters requested such arrangement, the NEC required all polling booths to have curtains again from this year's regional elections, according to an NEC spokesperson.

The rules on covering the surveillance cameras near the booths remain, the spokesperson told AFP on June 2, adding, "this is a measure aimed at safeguarding ballot secrecy, and has been in place for many years".

The spokesperson could not immediately verify whether the photos shared on social media were genuine photos from polling stations.

Song Jae-min, a director of the non-profit Korea Election Association specialising in election-related education and training, described the claim in the circulating posts as "nonsense", considering how rigorously the voting process is carried out and monitored in South Korea (archived link).

"In order to pull off a scheme like that, you need to buy off every single one of the people at a voting site -- NEC officials, local public servants drafted to help out, volunteers and voting process observers recommended by each political party as well as each candidate -- and somehow organise these people with all different political views and backgrounds to act together," Song told AFP on June 3.

"And you need to repeat the same process in many polling stations to sway election results. It's simply a ridiculous claim," he said.

The NEC has also attempted to counter claims of vote rigging by providing around-the-clock surveillance footage of ballot storage facilities at its regional offices across the country, which voters can visit and watch the footage (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked disinformation about the voting process ahead of major elections.

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