From: cbix@home.com
 

A few thoughts on the subject of chad. I know this is drilling down fairly deep into this, but I can't take listening to
the Republican PR offensive on this issue any longer without pointing out these rational facts.
The latest spin from the Smirktrons are these. The ballots are being used as fans. They've been dropped on the
floor. (once) That simply due to the fact that the ballots have been handled a few times, that this makes it
impossible to get an accurate count and opens up a Pandora's Box of hideous and evil Democratic skullduggery.
And lastly, that there have been chad found and picked up in the counting room, which proves... I frankly don't
know.

   Allow me to point out why this is sheer, unmitigated horseshit. First, I've worked with these exact types of punch
card ballots several times as an election judge. I know what they are like. I'm not just blowing smoke or guessing
here.

   Firstly, these things are fairly stiff compressed cardboard. Not really thick, but sturdy. Secondly, the chads aren't
perforated that much. It takes a lot to punch them out! They use a stiff and fairly thick piece of steel rod to punch
these things.
 
I'd also like to point out right here the basic looniness of these arguments. And that is, that to make these
accusations as evidence that this count is unfair and due to Democratic mischief, they must assume that even IF
this handling caused chads to dislodge, that somehow, more GORE chads than BUSH chads fall.  Now I don't
know about you.... but if I could fan myself with a ballot and be able to make the Gore chad fall out without even
touching it, I'd get an act together and take it on the road! Move over Uri Geller!

  This illogic applies to all these arguments. That somehow, handling these ballots cause chads to fall out, but
ONLY, or mostly, GORE chads. Just bizarre when you think about it.

  The second rational thought that blows their line to hell is this: The entire recount is being done because of
thousands of ballots where votes were not detected due to the chads not being completely detached. People went
in the voting booth armed with a stiff pin with a plastic bulb-like handle, and even so, weren't able to completely
dislodge the chad.

  There's THOUSANDS of these. THOUSANDS of people punched the thing with this stiff heavy gage pin and
didn't manage to complete dislodge the chad.
  But the Bushoids are attempting to convince America that SIMPLY WAVING a ballot in the air, or the simple
act of picking up ballots and setting them down is enough to somehow blast a chad completely out!!

  If a damn steel rod punched through a hole over the chad can't get it to come all the way out, HOW THE HELL
DOES WAVING, HANDLING, OR DROPPING IT ON THE FLOOR??????? AND HOW IS IT THAT THE
CHADS THEY ALLEGE TO HAVE BEEN KNOCKED LOOSE ARE EVIDENTLY GORE VOTES????
  Also, keep in mind that at NO time is any one person in possession of a ballot without being on camera and with
a rep of the opposite party RIGHT THERE.  If you think some old woman is going to risk federal prison to try to
poke a hole for Gore with the entire world watching, you're nuts.

 Only once have I seen a person actually demonstrate the foolhardiness of this argument. A stand up reporter for
CNN had an actual ballot. As he gave his report, he explained that he had dislodged one chad ON THREE
SIDES, a so-called swinging door chad. He explained further that he'd bent it back and forth over 20 times before
going on the air, and as he spoke, he bent it completely over and back at least 20 more times. That chad hung on
like glue. It wasn't going anywhere. That was no surprise to me, because I know what they're like. But it
graphically showed just how much BULLSHIT this latest spin from the right is.
  They say that someone put a POST-IT note on a ballot. I kept waiting for the rest of the story, but that was it!
This moron Montana yahoo made the charge like he was announcing that he'd found who shot Kennedy!  You
could put DUCT TAPE on these things, and if a chad wasn't previously loosened by an attempted vote, they ain't
goin' nowhere!

 Don't buy it for a second. You could drop a barrel of ballots out of a light plane at 500 feet and not one chad
would come loose. You could rip a ballot in half, and no chad would come loose.
  To hear the Republicans tell it, you'd think that if a butterfly beat it's wings nearby, these things fall out!  That just
ain't the case.
 It's yet more grasping at straws bullshit designed to disinform, distort, distract, and deceive all of us.
Chris