Politics

/

ArcaMax

Donald Trump hired him to find voting fraud. He debunked it instead

David Wickert, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on

Published in Political News

ATLANTA — Four years ago, Donald Trump insisted that voting fraud cost him the election, and he hired Ken Block to prove it.

A data analyst, Block did his best, searching for dead voters, double-voting and absentee ballot fraud. But he found only about a dozen examples of fraud in Georgia — far short of the 11,780 votes Trump needed to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

“We have all these unfounded claims of voter fraud,” Block told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There are so many that it’s hard to believe it’s not true. But the reality is, it’s not true.”

Block took an interest in elections after running twice for Rhode Island governor. He lost both times but gained expertise studying voter registration and other election data.

That’s why the Trump campaign called him the day after the 2020 election and asked him to review fraud allegations in Georgia and five other swing states Biden won.

Block took the job. In the weeks that followed he did his own research and reviewed the work of other analysts. But he found himself debunking — not proving — fraud allegations.

One example: Block reviewed a Trump campaign analysis that claimed thousands of people had illegally voted twice — once in Georgia and again in another state.

The analyst had compared voting data from Georgia and other states, matching people by their names and birth dates. Block found the analyst had mistakenly assumed that different people with the same name and similar birth dates were the same person.

In a country of more than 330 million people, many people have the same names. Block said he has found some 15,000 “John Smiths” registered to vote in the United States. He’s also found 72 “Ken Blocks” — not an especially common name.

 

Making accurate matching more difficult: Publicly available Georgia registration data includes only the voter’s birth year. Block said matches only on a name and year of birth are wrong “99% of the time.” Even with a full date of birth, the matches are wrong more than 90% of the time, he said.

Block determined the Trump analyst wrongly concluded that thousands of people cast ballots in Georgia and another state. He found similar problems with allegations of dead voters, absentee ballot fraud and other claims.

“Every single claim they asked me to look at was false,” he said.

Block said the Trump campaign lawyers he worked with accepted his analysis. In March, he published a book about his hunt for voting fraud called “Disproven.”

But four years after the election, Block said many people still believe it was stolen “because President Trump continues to bang the drum” of voting fraud and conservative media outlets continue to echo his complaints.

“They don’t provide their listeners any contrary information to that narrative,” he said. “I’ve tried to tell my story in conservative media, and nobody will have me.”

Block said the reason Trump lost is more mundane than voting fraud.

Many moderate Republicans who voted for him in 2016 didn’t vote for him four years later. Between 2016 and 2020, Trump lost more than enough support in the deepest red counties in Georgia and other swing states to account for Biden’s margin of victory, Block said.


©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Related Channels

ACLU

ACLU

By The ACLU
Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman

By Amy Goodman
Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams

By Armstrong Williams
Austin Bay

Austin Bay

By Austin Bay
Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro

By Ben Shapiro
Betsy McCaughey

Betsy McCaughey

By Betsy McCaughey
Bill Press

Bill Press

By Bill Press
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp
Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas

By Cal Thomas
Christine Flowers

Christine Flowers

By Christine Flowers
Clarence Page

Clarence Page

By Clarence Page
Danny Tyree

Danny Tyree

By Danny Tyree
David Harsanyi

David Harsanyi

By David Harsanyi
Debra Saunders

Debra Saunders

By Debra Saunders
Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager

By Dennis Prager
Dick Polman

Dick Polman

By Dick Polman
Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson

By Erick Erickson
Froma Harrop

Froma Harrop

By Froma Harrop
Jacob Sullum

Jacob Sullum

By Jacob Sullum
Jamie Stiehm

Jamie Stiehm

By Jamie Stiehm
Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins

By Jeff Robbins
Jessica Johnson

Jessica Johnson

By Jessica Johnson
Jim Hightower

Jim Hightower

By Jim Hightower
Joe Conason

Joe Conason

By Joe Conason
Joe Guzzardi

Joe Guzzardi

By Joe Guzzardi
John Micek

John Micek

By John Micek
John Stossel

John Stossel

By John Stossel
Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer

By Josh Hammer
Judge Andrew Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
Laura Hollis

Laura Hollis

By Laura Hollis
Marc Munroe Dion

Marc Munroe Dion

By Marc Munroe Dion
Michael Barone

Michael Barone

By Michael Barone
Michael Reagan

Michael Reagan

By Michael Reagan
Mona Charen

Mona Charen

By Mona Charen
Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

By Oliver North and David L. Goetsch
R. Emmett Tyrrell

R. Emmett Tyrrell

By R. Emmett Tyrrell
Rachel Marsden

Rachel Marsden

By Rachel Marsden
Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry

By Rich Lowry
Robert B. Reich

Robert B. Reich

By Robert B. Reich
Ruben Navarrett Jr

Ruben Navarrett Jr

By Ruben Navarrett Jr.
Ruth Marcus

Ruth Marcus

By Ruth Marcus
S.E. Cupp

S.E. Cupp

By S.E. Cupp
Salena Zito

Salena Zito

By Salena Zito
Star Parker

Star Parker

By Star Parker
Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore

By Stephen Moore
Susan Estrich

Susan Estrich

By Susan Estrich
Ted Rall

Ted Rall

By Ted Rall
Terence P. Jeffrey

Terence P. Jeffrey

By Terence P. Jeffrey
Tim Graham

Tim Graham

By Tim Graham
Tom Purcell

Tom Purcell

By Tom Purcell
Veronique de Rugy

Veronique de Rugy

By Veronique de Rugy
Victor Joecks

Victor Joecks

By Victor Joecks
Wayne Allyn Root

Wayne Allyn Root

By Wayne Allyn Root

Comics

Lisa Benson Darrin Bell John Cole Kirk Walters Dave Granlund Joel Pett