"IEBC now says—after a long silence--that this difference in rejected votes is because of software misconfiguration that multiplied the figures by 8. Hello! Did they not test this before using it?
And why are the actual votes for candidates not multiplied by 8 as well?"
What is the basis of this last question? It's like someone saying they had a puncture in their left rear tire and you saying to them, why not in the right front one also? Completely illogical.
That said, IEBC took a rather long shot in implementing so much technology in a short amount of time especially given the high stakes involved. But cut them some slack, at least they had the presence of mind to have (hopefully) reliable contingency plans every step of the way. While we should not condone mediocrity, we have to be sensitive to the circumstances under which all these things have had to be done.
Learn first to treat your time as you would your money, then treat your money as you do your time.