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45 million 18-29 year olds will be eligible to vote in the 2012 elections, representing the largest potential voting bloc in the country. Learn more about the issues, register to vote and get involved with MTV's Power of 12. Today, we've got another "Jargon Buster" for you.
chad, noun: the small scrap of paper left over when a hole is punched in a ballot
... or when a hole is punched through any piece of paper (or paper-ish material), really. So, like, when you empty out the guts of that three-ring punch thingy, all of the colorful discs that fall out and make a big mess? Or you use 'em as confetti?! Those are chads. Teensy little bits of the democratic process. Chads are like the donut holes of paper ballots.
In election lingo, chads are the pieces cut out of a ballot in the punched card voting system -- a system that, as you might have guessed, lets people cast their votes by punching a hole next to their political pick's name. Completed cards then go through a device called the Votomatic (seriously, it's called the Votomatic), which electronically counts votes based on hole placement.
The method is far more efficient and reliable than asking volunteers to tally check-marks, no doubt ... assuming the Votomatic can get a clear read. If, however, that overworked hole punch doohickey in the voting booth doesn't do its job, we have trouble. We have the dreaded hanging chad (when that circle that creates a punching hole is only partially detatched from the card). We have pregnant chads (When the circle in a punching hole doesn't go through and forms a dimple in a punched card ballot). We have drama.
During the 2000 Presidential election, faulty punchers left sneaky little chads clinging to oodles of ballots in Florida. As a result, the Votomatic didn't register those votes and the state had a big fat error on its hands. The consequence? That famous recount that had Al Gore hanging in there -- like a swinging chad -- until the bitter end.
Expect to see increasingly higher standards (and higher tech devices) in the voting booth next fall.
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