The New York Times did an analysis of the Florida vote and found that the counties that use the Votomatic punch-card counting machine produced "undervotes" (no vote recorded for president) at a rate that was five times that for optical scan machines used in other counties. Now, it's remotely possible that the people in those counties were five times likelier to chose not to vote for any candidate, but isn't it damned unlikely? Hand counts would be the only way to resolve the lingering doubt about those undervotes. Deb Messling ------------------------------------ "I like cats. They give the home a heartbeat." ~Joni Mitchell ------------------------------------
