It was discovered that close to 20 people from different constituencies were able to cast votes despite being unregistered, confirmed Electoral Commissioner Tuiafelolo John Stanley.

He said this was discovered during the official counting process. He said this was a gross oversight on the part of the people responsible for doing checks.

Tuiafelolo said this discovery is something they are not taking lightly because the checks and balances at polling booths should have picked up if people were unregistered.

He said these voters voted as special voters. He admitted this was the fault of the electoral officers at these polling booths.

Tuiafelolo said all these cases of unregistered voters being able to vote were because of the election officers on duty at these polling booths.

He said this is something he will look into after the completion of the official count. He added that this could also necessitate an investigation.

Tuiafelolo said such incidents put the Office of the Electoral Commission in a bad light. He added that the investigation following the count would also try and find if these acts were deliberate.

When asked if it was because their computer system was hacked, he said that would never happen.

"Our system cannot be hacked by the election officers or staff, it's just that they allowed these people to vote without registering and as I said, these will all be discovered."

Tuiafelolo said all election officers identified for misconduct and similar practices during the election will be called in and investigated.

"We will not let what they do ruin the reputation of OEC and the hard work we've been doing to make sure Samoa has a just, fair and peaceful election." 

Tuiafelolo said some officials who were hired to work for them during the general election pulled out in the morning of election day, and they had to call in the reserves.