Methodology (Disappearing Act)

Among records for 1.4 million registered voters in Chicago on Nov. 29, 2000, The Chicago Reporter labeled all individuals who would be between the ages of 65 and 95 by Dec. 31, 2000, as seniors. The Reporter then compared records for the 1.4 million registered voters in the city on Nov. 29, 2000, with records for 1.2 million registered voters in Chicago in September 2007, matching voters with identical voting identification numbers or identical first names, middle initials, last names and birth dates. The records of all unmatched voters from November 2000 were then compared with records for 1.2 million registered voters in suburban Cook County in September 2007, matching voters with identical first names, middle initials, last names and birth dates.

Among the matches, the Reporter then compared the first seven characters of their November 2000 address with the first seven characters of their September 2007 address to determine if an address change had occurred. Finally, using the ArcView program, the Reporter geocoded the addresses of all 1.4 million registered voters from November 2000 to determine their census tracts and community areas.