Reply #10: Federal Elections Laws Require: [View All]

[JohnGideon]

That voting equipment is serviced and used only after it is certified to be in correct working order. The fact that the punch card machines had full chad baskets, had not had the slots cleaned, and did not have new stylus's was enough to cause a new election in those precincts that used those machines. These were and are important things that must be done prior to each election. If the chad baskets are full, the chads will hang or dimple. If the slots are not clean the stylus will not push the chad so it cuts on the slots; same results. If the stylus's are blunt from use you get the same results again. This was all the responsibility of Katherine Harris.

However, all the hanging or dimpled chads only took the spotlight from the real problem. An optical scan machine in Volusia Co. read 16,203 minus votes for Gore and 4000 plus votes for Bush BEFORE any ballots were put through the machine. An observant poll worker found the problem, but it was not fixed until after all ballots were counted. This caused Gore to begin the process of conceding to Bush. You can read about this in Bev's book.