The term “hanging chad” originated from the 2000 US presidential election when ballots with small pieces of paper still attached caused controversy. Florida’s voting methods were scrutinized, and a manual recount was required. The term remains in popular usage and is associated with electoral procedure breakdown.
A hanging chad refers to a small piece of paper intended to be pierced by a larger sheet of paper, but which remains attached. The term entered general public discourse during the 2000 United States presidential election when unusually close voting numbers led to a manual recount of thousands of ballots in Florida. During this time, there was much discussion about the eligibility of ballots that had a hanging chad instead of a clean hole, to indicate the voter’s choice of candidate. The term has remained in popular usage, especially among political commentators and figures within popular culture.
The 2000 US election featured heated debate between then-Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush. On election night, the state of Florida became the focus of national attention, as exit polls indicated Gore had won in Florida, and these results were reported by several television networks. Several hours later, however, more votes were tallied and the initial prediction was retracted and changed to “too close to call” by the telecasts.
A few hours later, the state was declared to have gone to Bush and the next president-elect was named by several stations. This was before some of the more prominent pro-Gore districts had been tallied, however, and eventually the results were found to be so close that a hand recount was required by law before a final result could be given. Although the recount ultimately ended in a firestorm of controversy, the trial introduced the suspended chad to the general public and shed a new light on American politics.
During this recount process, the methods used to vote on ballots in Florida were thrust into the national spotlight and the suspended chad entered the group consciousness of the United States. The method used to indicate a favored candidate on Florida ballots involved pressing a piece of metal through the paper ballot to punch a hole for the preferred candidate. In many cases, this was done cleanly and the desired candidate was obvious even to a casual observer.
Other ballots, however, were not easily calculated and these have become the source of much debate, frustration and controversy. In situations where the chad, the small piece of paper punched by a voter, was not cleanly separated from the ballot, the result was referred to as a hanging chad. For a four-cornered chad, the term is usually only used in situations where a single corner is still attached to the paper. As the trial made national headlines, however, the phrase became commonly used, and the hanging chad became synonymous with both the pieces of paper themselves and a sense of the general breakdown of electoral procedures.
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