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hanging chad
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Hanging chad
Hanging chad
Hanging chad The little pieces of paper dangling from this ballot are called hanging chads.

hanging chad

voting and elections
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Written by
Teagan Wolter
Teagan Wolter is Associate Editor of Anthropology at Encyclopædia Britannica.
Teagan Wolter
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

hanging chad, a chad—the small piece of a paper produced in punching paper tape or cards—that has not completely detached. When paper ballots are used in elections, hanging chads may lead to voting discrepancies. Hanging chads played a major role in the United States presidential election of 2000, when partially punched ballots that were not read by voting machines led, in part, to calls for a recount in Florida. The manual recounts ordered by the Florida Supreme Court were ultimately ended by the Supreme Court of the United States as a result of the case Bush v. Gore.

Teagan Wolter The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica