3/24: The Takeout: Ken Block

Data analyst and author Ken Block appeared on the CBS News program "The Takeout" on March 24, 2024, to discuss his new book, "Disproven," which details his investigation into allegations of widespread election interference following the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Block was originally commissioned by the Donald Trump campaign to find empirical evidence of voter fraud across several swing states to support legal challenges against the election results. During the interview, he explained how his rigorous, fact-driven methodology ultimately failed to produce any evidence capable of altering the outcome of the race, leading him to testify before federal and state investigators. Block's investigation focused on high-stakes claims such as deceased voters casting ballots and double-voting across state lines. In his conversation with host Major Garrett, Block described the immense pressure to find irregularities and the subsequent realization that many of the claims circulating in the media were based on flawed data or a misunderstanding of election mechanics. He detailed the specific technical processes his team used to cross-reference voter rolls, noting that the errors found were statistically insignificant and well within the normal margins of administrative variation. Beyond the data, Block explored the origins of these conspiracy theories, suggesting that many claims were born from a combination of political desperation and a lack of technical literacy regarding how elections are certified. His book serves as a historical record of his findings, aiming to provide a non-partisan account of the 2020 post-election period. By documenting the gap between political rhetoric and evidentiary reality, Block hopes to restore trust in the American electoral system and provide a blueprint for how data should be analyzed in future contests.