pat,
If the situation were reversed, would you call this fair?
ELECTION 2000
Scotch-taped, dimpled
chads worry volunteer
Palm Beach vote-counter
provides
revealing look behind the
scenes
By Julie Foster
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
Hanging chads, dimpled chads,
pregnant chads, swinging chads
-- Americans have heard the
lingo, but relatively few have
actually seen the chads, or the
ballots, first-hand.
David Anderson, a Palm Beach
County resident and participant
in the hand recount process
there, is one of those few. In
his column today in
WorldNetDaily, he provides an
extensive and detailed account
of his day behind the scenes.
On Friday, Nov. 17, Anderson
volunteered to help count
ballots manually. Given a stack
of absentee ballots, he came
across three that had carefully
cut tape either covering a
punched-out hole in the ballot
or holding a chad in place.
Anderson says he questioned the
all-Democrat canvassing board
about the phenomenon, which
told him "we were counting the
absentee ballots and most
likely the voter punched the
wrong hole and used tape to put
the chad back in and vote for
another. The voter was not in a
polling place to receive
another ballot to use. We
bought [this] explanation and
continued. Soon we found a
third (in about a span of 12
ballots)."
Anderson was also concerned
about so-called dimpled chads:
"We noticed these mainly on
ballots that did not have any
candidate selected. Some
dimples were so slight that
they were hardly noticeable. I
have large doubts that anyone
can discern the intent of the
voter for these ballots. All of
the ballots that had the
dimpled chads for the
presidential column were
clearly punched for the other
less important races, so I feel
the voter did not want to vote
for any presidential candidate
(we did have several ballots
like that)."
If Gore wins, says the
volunteer vote counter, it will
be because of "the partisan
voting of the canvassing board
on the dimpled chads," Anderson
writes. However, he adds, "I
did get the feeling that at
least Judge Burton and Theresa
LePore (of the Palm Beach
County canvassing board) wanted
to do the right thing." |
