参院さんいん選せん 東京とうきょう 大田おおた区く 計上けいじょうミスで無効むこう票ひょう約やく2600にせんろっぴゃく票ひょうを水増みずまし

In the ballot counting process for Tokyos Ota Ward during the House of Councillors election held in July, it was discovered that, despite a discrepancy between the announced total number of votes—which mistakenly double-counted absentee ballots—and the actual number of votes, the staff in charge at the site inflated the number of invalid ballots by about 2,600 in order to make the numbers match.

The ward has decided not to recount the votes, stating that it will not affect the election results.

According to the Ota Ward Election Management Committee, in the House of Councillors election held in July, there was a mistake where the number of absentee ballots—used by people who couldnt vote due to travel or hospitalization—was counted twice up until the day before the election. As a result, the total number of votes announced was about 2,600 more than the actual number.

Without noticing it, the ballot counting proceeded, and even though a discrepancy between the total number of votes and the actual number of ballots emerged toward the end of the process, the ward staff in charge on site reportedly added about 2,600 invalid ballots to match the numbers, and announced this as the final ballot count.

Ota Ward has decided not to conduct a recount, stating that it will not affect the election results. However, they are interviewing the staff involved and plan to hold a press conference on the 7th to explain the detailed circumstances.

The Secretariat of the Ota Ward Election Administration Commission said in response to NHKs inquiry, We deeply apologize for this act that undermines trust in election operations.

We want to thoroughly verify and implement measures to prevent this kind of thing from happening, they said.

In recent elections, it has been revealed that there was an inflation of invalid ballots in places such as Takamatsu City during the 2013 House of Councillors election, Sendai City during the 2014 House of Representatives election, and Koka City in Shiga Prefecture during the 2017 House of Representatives election.