General Election 2023: Independent review of counting errors - Auditor-General's overview

Auditor-General John Ryan reviewed the Electoral Commission's quality assurance processes after the Commission amended and reissued the 2023 official results. He found a relatively small number of errors that did not affect the overall outcome, but concluded that the quality assurance checks were ineffective and in places not carried out, that a final check normally taking two days was compressed into a few hours, and that the count's reliance on manual paper-ballot processes leaves it vulnerable to human error. Contributing pressures included almost 454,000 enrolments in the final two weeks (about 110,000 on election day, a 46% rise on 2020), about 600,000 special votes (100,000 more than 2020), and staff simultaneously preparing the Port Waikato by-election.