I've been saying to friends that when evaluating whether there was a "voting machine failure", the standard that Katherine Harris set for a manual recount, it is not enough to look solely at the counting machine. You have to look at the whole system starting with the stylus in the voter's hand, the apparatus that holds the card in place, and so on.

I found this quote from a CNN news story to be telling:

"Also on hand was the design team of the Vote-O-Matic, the voting machine used by Palm Beach County in its elections precincts. Speaking before the board, one of the machine's designers said the apparatus has one significant flaw -- chad, or shards of paper removed from punch cards by voters -- tend to pile up underneath the area where voters must press their stylus.

"Meaning, they said, it stands to reason that some chads would not be fully removed from some punch ballots. These ballots should be counted nonetheless, they said."

"Broward, Palm Beach counties press on with recounts as war is waged in courts"
November 24, 2000

CNN's Jeff Flock and The Associated Press contributed to this report, which was written by Ian Christopher McCaleb.



Needless to say, I hope the Vote-O-Matic system soon becomes an historical relic.

Peter



P.S.
I am disgusted by the decision by the Gore team to challenge the vote totals in Miami-Dade county. From the same article:

"Even after the deadline for vote certification, the Florida tumult will be far from over. Should the state's numbers show Gore still trailing George W. Bush -- who holds an unofficial 930-vote lead over the vice president based on unofficial results -- Gore's team has said he will not concede the election.

'We want a full, fair and accurate count and the only way left to do that is to file a contest for Miami-Dade,' Gore campaign spokeswoman Jenny Backus said."