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

To: TigerPaw who wrote (106045)	12/8/2000 4:45:28 PM
From: Bald Eagle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Dimples are created when the cards are run through the machines that count them.

To: TigerPaw who wrote (106045)	12/8/2000 4:46:16 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769670

We will know the truth. That's the important thing. Bush may get in but we will know who got the most votes.

To: TigerPaw who wrote (106045)	12/8/2000 4:47:51 PM
From: JBTFD	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

There has been explanation. When the ballot machines get full, it becomes impossible to punch out the chad, because of the chamber underneath being packed with chads

To: TigerPaw who wrote (106045)	12/8/2000 4:49:43 PM
From: Dan B.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

The testimony in Sauls court was that humidity can dimple them, and that simply running the pad of a finger firmly over one when grasping can create a small dimple. In fact, exit polls show thousands chose not to vote. Human observation ought not divine a vote from a stylus touch, when we KNOW some people depended on the rule stating that if it's not punched out, it would not be counted. Of the undervotes, most by far in fact, apparently won't have even dimples of any kind. These do indeed represent no votes. If counting goes forward, it may be a tight ship. Dan B

To: TigerPaw who wrote (106045)	12/8/2000 6:14:25 PM
From: Ellen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

> They just arent that fragile. < The Wall Street Journal this week found a Sequoia Pacific ballot and put the chad to an unscientific stress test. Observers whacked the ballot against a desk; ran over it 10 times with a station wagon; tossed it in a clothes dryer set on high for 10 minutes; microwaved it; rolled and unrolled it like a cigar; and rubbed it against a 6-year old domestic shorthair cat. The result: The chads remained lodged in the ballot: No dimples, no bulges. ---------- Ballot chads are tough cookies, despite negative publicity By Scott McCabe, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Friday, November 24, 2000 Chad's pretty tough for a paper cutout character. The tiny piece of punch-out ballot has been the object of political debate since we learned it could determine the leadership of the free world. The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to rule on its legitimacy -- does a pregnant chad count? Election observers collect chads in plastic baggies as proof that the recount is, at best, unfair and, at worst, rigged. Miami-Dade protesters wearing "Don't be Had by a Chad" T-shirts nearly caused a riot Wednesday before canvassing board judges canceled that county's recount. It's enough to consider "Chad" as a serious candidate for Time magazine's Man of the Year. But chad is nothing new. It has been a part of the election process in the United States since University of California-Berkeley political science Professor Joseph Harris dreamed up the idea of placing a standard IBM card in a ballot holder and punching holes in the card to indicate voter choices and then counting these votes by running them through a computer. Voil, the Votomatic. Today, 37 percent of the nation's counties use the system. The ballots are manufactured by four companies and must meet national standards set in 1969. The ballot must be 7.38 inches long, 3.24 inches wide and 0.0007 inch thick. The ballot must be cut from paper made of 100 percent chemical wood fiber. The grain of paper should be in the direction of the card length. Chads should take 150 to 350 grams of pressure. By comparison, it takes about 80 grams of pressure to turn off a light switch. Sequoia Pacific Systems, the ballots' manufacturer and the father of the Palm Beach County ballot, says the chads don't fall for anything. Only a punch can knock one out. "It's not possible for the chad to fall out on its own," said Hugh Webb, general manager of Sequoia Pacific Systems in Exeter, Calif. The Wall Street Journal this week found a Sequoia Pacific ballot and put the chad to an unscientific stress test. Observers whacked the ballot against a desk; ran over it 10 times with a station wagon; tossed it in a clothes dryer set on high for 10 minutes; microwaved it; rolled and unrolled it like a cigar; and rubbed it against a 6-year old domestic shorthair cat. The result: The chads remained lodged in the ballot: No dimples, no bulges. So, where are the loose chads coming from? Mostly from hanging chads that weren't punched through completely because insufficient pressure was applied or the ballot was offline. A partially punched chad can hang off the ballot like a flap and even can flap closed and not be counted as a vote. In 1985, the chads kept gumming up counting machines in Dallas and caused software glitches that kept changing vote totals all election night. "Common sense will tell you," said Paul Nolte, president of Election Resources Corp. in Little Rock, Ark., which creates the software to tabulate the ballots, "if you got a chad hanging on the ballot, the more you handle it the greater the chances it'll fall off." scott_mccabe@pbpost.com