In Search of the Black Swan: Analysis of the Statistical Evidence of Electoral Fraud in Venezuela (2004)

by Ricardo Hausmann. Roberto Rigobon.

This study analyzes diverse hypotheses of electronic fraud in the Recall Referendum celebrated in Venezuela on August 15, 2004. We define fraud as the difference between the elector’s intent, and the official vote tally. Our null hypothesis is that there was no fraud, and we attempt to search for evidence that will allow us to reject this hypothesis. We reject the hypothesis that fraud was committed by applying numerical maximums to machines in some precincts. Equally, we discard any hypothesis that implies altering some machines and not others, at each electoral precinct, because the variation patterns between machines at each precinct are normal. However, the statistical evidence is compatible with the occurrence of fraud that has affected every machine in a single precinct, but differentially more in some precincts than others. We find that the deviation pattern between precincts, based on the relationship between the signatures from the November 2003 Reafirmazo, and the YES votes on August 15, is positive and significantly correlated with the deviation pattern in the relationship between exit polls and votes. In other words, those precincts in which, according to the number of signatures, there are an unusually low number of YES votes, is also where, according to the exit polls, the same thing occurs. Using statistical techniques, we discard the fact that this is due to spurious errors in the data or to random coefficients in such relationships. [via]

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In Search of the Black Swan: Analysis of the Statistical Evidence of Electoral Fraud in Venezuela (2004)

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