Kate Heffernan

Using Benfords Law to detect fraud in the Iran election.

“Roukema speculates that Iranian officials could have been taking cases where Ahmadinejad’s vote total began with a ‘1’ and switching it to a ‘2’ — for instance, in some town where he received 1,954 votes, they would report his having received 2,954 votes. This hypothesis may take on more meaning in light of new and as yet unverified allegations that reported turnout exceeded 100 percent in several dozen Iranian towns.”

This is awesome. Love 538.