Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (76197)	11/15/2000 5:12:55 PM
From: TigerPaw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

I heard of a voting irregularity caused by pregnant or dimpled chad which has even more bias than the no-vote situation. From description by Ken Wendler, 1974 chairman of Travis Co. Tx Democratic primary, as reported by the Austin American Statesman. When voting with a punch card system, the voting machine consists of a little table, similar to a TV tray which contains a place for the ballot and a booklet which positions the candidate descriptions over the proper hole for that candidates place on the ballot card. The table itself not only has the fixtures to hold these, but is perforated with a bunch of little square holes which provide some support for the ballot card as the chad is being punched out. The chad is pushed through these holes into a shallow tray of the table. The voting table needs to be cleaned and emptied periodicly. There are several ways these little holes in the table can get plugged. One is by a little hill of chad building up which in the table until no more chad can be pushed through the hole into the tray. Another is by a chad getting twisted a bit and lodging sideways in the hole in the table. later chads will not be able to be pushed through the hole in the table to the tray. In each case the chad can no longer be pushed out of the ballot effectively, leading to a dimpled or pregnant looking chad which is still attached to the ballot. More important is the bias, the holes most likely to get plugged are those which have the most chad going through them. In other words, The more popular the candidate, the more likely the vote will be missed. TP