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Warnings on the use and abuse of statistical analysis in elections

An elections worker sorts ballots at the Multnomah County Elections Division in Portland prior to the May primary. Multnomah is among Oregon counties that have reduced the number of such workers due to COVID-19.
Bradley W. Parks
/
OPB
An elections worker sorts ballots at the Multnomah County Elections Division in Portland prior to the May primary. Multnomah is among Oregon counties that have reduced the number of such workers due to COVID-19.

We once had widespread faith in our elections system. And the people who run it and observe it dispassionately say it is still a clean, efficient system that records the will of the voters and reflects it in accurate returns.

But Donald Trump and his endless claims of rigged and stolen elections have inspired many more people to question the inputs and outputs.

Justin Grimmer, a political scientist at Stanford University and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution there, is watching. He points out the many problems with people who claim their "statistical analysis" of elections turn up different results from the official ones.

We visit with Professor Grimmer about his findings.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily talk show focused on news and interests across our region of Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.