Don’t be deceived by the fact that this book takes a populist approach and includes a comic book. Billionaires & Ballot Bandits remains a rigorous treatise on the source of financial flows influencing US elections with an analytical investigation of the substantial ballot loss rates and growing registration impediments in the US. Of necessity, the work behind this investigation includes summarizing complex data and statistics.
All calculations are derived from data supplied by the US Elections Assistance Commission based on 133,944,538 voters participating in the 2008 election as reported by 4,517 jurisdictions (USEAC 2008 Election Administration and Voting Survey). Calculations adjust for EAC inclusion of nonintegral territorial voters (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Virgin Islands), and incomplete survey reports from jurisdictions. Absentee count rates combine with the separate reporting by the EAC of UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) participants.
Spoilage rates determined from undervote and overvote are derived from: Election Data Services Inc., 2004 Election Day Survey Report, Part 2 Survey Results, Overvotes and Undervotes (for USEAC) applied to 2008 data. Registration removals and rejections taken from USEAC Election and Administration and Voting Survey Tables, applications processed, list maintenance, and removal notices.
Note: the EAC states that “significant gaps remain in election data collection,” and that shortcoming carries into our own data sets though best efforts are made to account for missing data. Thus the phrase, “No fewer than . . .” in stating the undercount and registration removals.
Thanks to Professors Matthew Barreto of the University of Washington and Philip Klinkner of Hamilton College, Dr. Tova Wang (formerly of the EAC), the staff of the the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, Dean Christopher Edley of the University of California Law School (former EAC Commissioner and cofounder of the Harvard University Law School Civil Rights Project) for their analyses of the racial profile of uncounted ballots and voters and for guidance in these calculations, though final responsibility rests fully on the author. The author’s own skills, a bit rusty from his days teaching statistics at the University of Indiana, could not have been up to the task without the guidance of the work of these eminent and thoughtful scholars.
Further discussion and updates of the calculations appear as they become available at www.BallotBandits.org, as well as the commentaries and findings of the experts listed above. Credentialed experts are invited to post their own findings for group analysis.
—Greg Palast
The Palast Investigations Team
| Leni Badpenny | Chief Investigatrix |
| Zach D. Roberts | Video Producer, Photographer, Investigator |
| Yuriy Kushnir | Webmaster |
| Kat L’Estrange | Voter Protection Outreach Coordinator |
| Ray Romano | Audio Master |
| Anthony DiMieri | Film Editor |
| Rick Rowley, Jacquie Soohen | Big Noise Films, cameras |
| Oliver Shykles, Anna Chen | Media and research, Europe |
| Russ Burlingame | Special Projects |
| Lee Camp | Comic Relief |
Special thanks to Nicole Powers & Chris Lee