That was it, it was multiplying rejected votes by 8 according to hassan iebc, the error was something like ERROR202: Server query failure, Reboot blah blah. Wewe ni mtu wa IT?

Looking at that error number, likely a SQL Database Join or GroupBy Error than multiplied a Rejected Vote by 8. Functional and Stress Testing for this system will likely be relooked at in the post-mortem to identify the exact points of systemic failure. $hit happens. Kudos to the IEBC for owning the issue and absolving SCOM as well as switching to an alternative system to keep going.