Should dimpled chads be counted?
[updated November 24] The Florida Supreme Court’s ruling provides no specific guidance on this important issue. In conducting a manual recount, the overriding standard is the ascertainment of the intent of the voter (102.1667(b)). In implementing this standard, the recounting counties are applying different rules of thumb. Miami-Dade counts dimpled chads that pass the “sunlight” test, i.e. light passes through one of the borders of the chad. Palm Beach does not apply the “sunlight” test, but rather counts dimpled votes when votes for offices other than president are also dimpled and not punched through. Texas appears to have the only statute that recognizes recognizes explicitly that a dimpled chad may count as a vote. Section 127.130(d)(3) of the Texas Election Code authorizes ballots to be counted where “an indentation on the chad from the stylus or other object is present and indicates a clearly ascertainable intent of the voter to vote.” An Illinois case, quoted in the November 21
