Yeah like above, the experiment may have not been conducted under standard conditions 1M electrolyte concentration, 25 degrees celsius, and 1atm pressures).
However, I'm still unsure whether this reason is valid: Voltmeter while measures voltage, also uses current, and hence changes the potential difference (theoretically, you don't take into account the voltmeter's load since the current it uses is so small that it's negligible)
I got marked down in my pre exam test for writing "materials are subjected to corrosion" because my teacher told me it was my job to get rid of any oxide layers by sanding it down. Likewise with using reasons such as "voltmeter was faulty"