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Home > 1.3.2.3 Counting procedures/validity of ballots > Report on the Identification of Electoral Irregularities by Statistical Methods
 
 
 
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There is nothing suspicious about a polling station reporting 70.01% of the votes cast for the ruling party. However, if many polling stations in the same country report round percentage numbers, e.g. 70.0% or 70.1% for the ruling party, and far fewer vote shares below 70% or above 71%, this might suggest fraud. Political authorities might have set a 70% vote share target for the ruling candidate or party (or another round percentage value), and the local authorities may have delivered the target by altering ballots, stuffing ballot boxes, or altering the count (Kobak et al., 2016a).