-Caveat Lector-
Tests find how much pressure voter must apply to remove chad
By Gary Kane
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 13, 2001
BOCA RATON -- Courts and columnists, candidates and consultants
wrestled with the question throughout the contentious
post-election period.
Just what is the difference between a vote and a pregnant chad?
Mechanical engineering Professor Jose Villanueva has an answer:
about 31/2 ounces of applied pressure.
In tests commissioned by The Palm Beach Post, Villanueva, who
teaches at Florida Atlantic University, and graduate student
Gilmer Viana measured the force required to cast both clear votes
and dimpled ballots on the two types of punch-card voting devices
used in Palm Beach County. Among their findings:
On average, 11 or 12 ounces of pressure will push a stylus
through a ballot, detaching a chad.
It's slightly easier to pop a chad using a Votomatic than the
more-compact Data Punch apparatus.
Chads dislodge more easily from the center of the ballot than
they do along the top, bottom and sides of the ballot.
It takes about the same amount of force to dislodge a chad with a
sharp-tipped stylus as it does with a dull-tipped stylus. But
the dull tip will generate more hanging chads.
The tests also indicated that arguments about chad buildup in the
voting devices might have been off-target. Democrats and
Republicans squabbled in court over the possibility that some
votes were blocked by mounds of chads piling up in the reservoirs
at the bottom of Votomatics and Data Punch devices. But
Villanueva said his tests showed that chad buildup was more
likely to occur above the thin layer of rubber that forms the top
surface of the reservoir -- caused by hanging chads becoming
dislodged when ballots were removed from the voting device.
Most people posses the physical might needed to cast a vote on a
punch-card system, the professor said.
"A feeble person couldn't," he said. "I imagine some people who
live in nursing homes wouldn't have the strength to put 11 ounces
of pressure on the stylus."
By comparison, tests showed that about 3.6 pounds of pressure are
needed to depress the lever on a typical toaster -- about 41/2
times the force needed to vote.
To conduct the tests, Villanueva and Viana had to come up with a
way to use a low-capacity testing machine to measure the small
amount of force needed to dislodge a chad. The machine, which
resembles an oversized drill press, is capable of exerting 20,000
pounds of pressure. It's typically used by engineers to test the
strength of materials used in manufacturing and construction.
Curve on paper shows force
The two engineers decided to use a strain gauge, which would be
sensitive to low levels of pressure. They attached the stylus to
a load cell, a strip of aluminum about the size of a ruler. The
strain gauge was fastened to the underside of the load cell,
which in turn was attached to the low-capacity testing machine.
As the testing machine pushed down on the load cell, the stylus
pressed against the paper ballot. The strain gauge sensed the
force and emitted a signal, which was then amplified and
transmitted to a recorder, which plotted the force on a piece of
paper, etching a curve in a manner similar to a polygraph
machine.
Sample ballots were used in the tests. Manufacturers say the
perforations on sample ballots are not as precise as actual
ballots and therefore a little more force is required to dislodge
the chad.
Villanueva and Viana conducted several tests on each voting
device. They found that, on average, 11.5 ounces of force pushed
the stylus through the ballot in the Votomatic system, whereas
12.8 ounces were needed to do the same on the Data Punch device.
County election records show a higher rate of under-votes --
ballots that failed to register a vote when fed through
electronic tabulators -- in precincts using the Data Punch system
than in precincts using the Votomatics.
Tests showed that as little as 6.4 ounces of weight on the stylus
will create a dimpled chad. Add 31/2 more ounces, and the chad
begins to detach, forming a hanging chad.
Chads are easier to dislodge from the center of the ballot than
from the outer edges, the tests show. Using the Votomatic, 11.5
ounces applied to the stylus removed chads from the center of the
ballot. But 12.5 ounces were needed on average to punch chads
from the edges.
Villanueva suggested filing off the sharp tip of the stylus to
see whether a dull stylus would require more voter muscle in the
voting booth. The difference was negligible -- a dull-tipped
stylus would require about sixthteen-one hundredths of an ounce
more power by the voter.
"We did see an increase in hanging chads with the stylus when the
point was dull," he said.
It's doubtful that dull tips were responsible for the county's
post-election headache. The county routinely replaces worn
styluses, Elections Supervisor Teresa LaPore said.
The engineers discovered that hanging chads often separated from
ballots as they are pulled out of the Votomatic and the Data
Punch devices. The loosened chads cling to the inside of the
apparatus in a tight niche where the paper ballot slides between
a plastic screen above and a thin layer of rubber below. The
stylus is supposed to push the chad through a narrow slit in the
rubber strip. Ideally, the tight rubber slit wipes the stylus
clean of chad as the stylus is withdrawn.
Clogging problem was known
But the engineers found that chad buildup on top of the rubber
layer could have frustrated voters by making the ballot harder to
punch through, which could account for some of the dimpled chads,
Villanueva said.
"It's a possible scenario," he said.
That same scenario was briefly mentioned during last month's
court hearing on Vice President Al Gore's election contest. A
voting-device designer testified that he applied for a patent in
1982 to correct a problem with Votomatics -- the area between the
plastic template and the rubber tended to clog with chad.
Villanueva also noted that dislodging a chad by pushing the
stylus through the voting apparatus at a slight angle also
requires greater force.
Still, a paper ballot should be no match for a healthy voter, he
said.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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