# How do you feel about dimpled ballots?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-dimpled-ballots/42797
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 27, 2000, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-dimpled-ballots/42797 "2000-11-27T00:02:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-dimpled-ballots/42797/1 "2000-11-27T00:02:03Z")
I say count 'em. The intent was there.
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### Author:  [@Sapphire\_Bullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapphire_Bullet)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-dimpled-ballots/42797/2 "2000-11-27T00:17:34Z")
If all the choices on the ballot are dimpled, then **that** shows intent. If the voter managed to punch through the others, then the only way to interpret a dimple for president is as “none of the above.” Parisan bickering aside, I think it is problematic that Broward counts dimples differently than Palm Beach. There should be some kind of standard. Furthermore, votes should be counted the same way all the way through. None of this switching rules between looking for sunlight, dimples, and counting attached corners. Yesterday I saw a guy examining a ballot with a magnifying glass!! What the hell do you need a magnifying glass for? Is it punched or not?
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### Author:  [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-dimpled-ballots/42797/3 "2000-11-27T00:26:46Z")
Dimpled chads are so \*cute[/]! That’s probably why some of them became pregnant chads.
Veb
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### Author:  [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-dimpled-ballots/42797/4 "2000-11-27T00:35:52Z")
Dimpled? Count 'em.
Hanging by a corner? Count 'em. Not falling all the way off is no reason why the entire vote should be thrown out.
Pregnant? Count 'em.
No mark of any kind on any chad corresponding to a Presidential candidate? Perhaps the person simply didn’t feel like voting for either of these guys.
Me. I voted for Dubya. But I wouldn’t want him in office on a technicality of the law. Count the bloody votes and let the country live with the results.
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### Author:  [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-dimpled-ballots/42797/5 "2000-11-27T01:16:10Z")
Nope. Without a hole, can’t use it to poll. A case like Bullet cites, maybe the ballot was misaligned in the holder. Otherwise, it may have been just tapped like “Should I?” while they thought. They may have been saying “None of the above” (the best choice, IMHO)
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### Author:  [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-dimpled-ballots/42797/6 "2000-11-27T01:23:30Z")
I agree with **Sapphire Bullet** and **lurkernomore**. Without something like all the votes on that ballot being in the same condition, there is no way of determining intent–it’s just a blatant attempt to grab a vote that no one is entitled to.
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### Author:  [@\_hijack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_hijack)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-dimpled-ballots/42797/7 "2000-11-27T01:33:10Z")
They are always caused by mis-aligned voting machines, nor human error.
The chad from the prior person’s card will stick in the bottom of the machine. Then the next card won’t seat and the chads won’t quite line up with the hole.
Sometimes a chad is jammed in only one hole.
So it becomes impossible to vote that hole again.
However, I dont’ think Bush supporters jammed the holes on purpose. Nixon had shifty followers, but Bush supporters are not that excitable.