I first heard this term in How I Met Your Mother when Ted dressed up as a hanging Chad for Halloween. I tried to look it up & Google basically just said that it was a voting ballot that people used to punch holes out of. But I feel like I’m missing something.. in the show, they would make fun of Ted for wearing an outdated costume
& would tell him that “the hanging Chad reference
Is very old” & that most people wouldn’t understand it. Which signifies some sort of inside joke or understanding, but I don’t get it. please! Thank you!
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I use ‘hanging chad’ all the time, as a way of explaining software code that is redundant but still in the code base. I also have to explain the term every time I use it (using the election explanation). It helps non-tech people remember the problem for future meetings.
I use ‘hanging chad’ all the time, as a way of explaining software code that is redundant but still in the code base. I also have to explain the term every time I use it (using the election explanation). It helps non-tech people remember the problem for future meetings.
It refers to the 2000 US election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. The election came down to who won the state of Florida, and the results were so close a few hundred votes could decide the election. In most elections a percentage of ballots are discounted due to technical issues. It could be a spelling error, or voting in the wrong district, etc. In Florida that year they were using paper ballots, where the voting machine punches a hole in the ballot to mark for who is the ballot is cast. Since it is a mechanical device, mechanical malfunctions can occur. In a certain percentage of the ballots the voting machines did not cleanly punch out a hole. In some cases the ballot was only partially indented, in others the hole was almost punched except for the little round piece of paper punched out of the hole (called a “chad”) barely hanging on. The vote was so close the pollers had to do a manual recount by hand. Since they had to count then manually they were going to include the votes that could not be automatically tabulated due to incomplete hole punches. The Bush organization protested this as they were slightly ahead and a large number of the discounted votes came from urban areas that tend to vote more democratic. It became an issue of “do we count votes in cases where there is a clear indication of voter intent, like a ballot discounted by a hanging chad” or is the “fair” thing to do to disenfranchise voters because of a flaw in the voting system, and in no way caused by the voter, without pre-established rule established by law. There were lawsuits filed and the case was to go before the Supreme Court, where the conservative justices sided with Bush in one of the most controversial decisions ever made in the Court. Based on that ruling, George Bush wont the presidency; A unofficial, statewide recount conducted after the election indicated that Al Gore would have won the Presidency had all votes been counted.
As a result of the election outcome, paper ballots were considered unreliable and the entire country switched to electronic voting machines to insure faster, more accurate counting with less disenfranchised voters.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, electronic voting machines are now being called “insecure” by parties wanting to limit voter access in the name of “securing the vote” and they advocate a return to paper ballots.
It refers to the 2000 US election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. The election came down to who won the state of Florida, and the results were so close a few hundred votes could decide the election. In most elections a percentage of ballots are discounted due to technical issues. It could be a spelling error, or voting in the wrong district, etc. In Florida that year they were using paper ballots, where the voting machine punches a hole in the ballot to mark for who is the ballot is cast. Since it is a mechanical device, mechanical malfunctions can occur. In a certain percentage of the ballots the voting machines did not cleanly punch out a hole. In some cases the ballot was only partially indented, in others the hole was almost punched except for the little round piece of paper punched out of the hole (called a “chad”) barely hanging on. The vote was so close the pollers had to do a manual recount by hand. Since they had to count then manually they were going to include the votes that could not be automatically tabulated due to incomplete hole punches. The Bush organization protested this as they were slightly ahead and a large number of the discounted votes came from urban areas that tend to vote more democratic. It became an issue of “do we count votes in cases where there is a clear indication of voter intent, like a ballot discounted by a hanging chad” or is the “fair” thing to do to disenfranchise voters because of a flaw in the voting system, and in no way caused by the voter, without pre-established rule established by law. There were lawsuits filed and the case was to go before the Supreme Court, where the conservative justices sided with Bush in one of the most controversial decisions ever made in the Court. Based on that ruling, George Bush wont the presidency; A unofficial, statewide recount conducted after the election indicated that Al Gore would have won the Presidency had all votes been counted.
As a result of the election outcome, paper ballots were considered unreliable and the entire country switched to electronic voting machines to insure faster, more accurate counting with less disenfranchised voters.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, electronic voting machines are now being called “insecure” by parties wanting to limit voter access in the name of “securing the vote” and they advocate a return to paper ballots.
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