Hanging chads, principal shortcoming of cheap and popular punch-card voting systems in US, have been consistent but mostly local headache for election officers for decades but could take on huge significance if Democrats win demand for recount of presidential ballots in four large Florida counties; ...
Hanging chads, principal shortcoming of cheap and popular punch-card voting systems in US, have been consistent but mostly local headache for election officers for decades but could take on huge significance if Democrats win demand for recount of presidential ballots in four large Florida counties; are created when ballot is not cleanly punched through by voting machine, which can then read it in different ways; issue is significant for Florida since thousands of ballots were read by voting machines as having no vote in presidential column; Democrats hope manual recount will show partly punched holes next to Vice Pres Gore's name; Republicans have sued to block recount (M)No, not election observers from the African country, but tiny bits of cellulose that, under the pressure of a citizen wielding his voting franchise and a metal stylus, are supposed to detach sharply from a punch-card ballot. Most do so, remaining as trash in the voting machine after the ballot is removed. The rectangular hole is interpreted as a vote by an electronic reader, while all unpunched holes are considered nonvotes.The issue is significant in Florida because thousands of ballots were read by voting machines as having no vote in the presidential column. Democrats hope that when the paper cards are reviewed one by one, many will be seen to have partly punched holes next to Mr.Hanging chads, the principal shortcoming of the cheap and popular punch-card voting systems by which more than a third of all American votes are cast, have been a consistent but mostly local headache for election officers for decades.