Hanging chads

[fairfarmhand]

Me and the girls were talking today about election results and counting votes and such. I told them about the 2008 election, hanging Chads, dimpled chads, pregnant chads...

They thought it was ridiculous. 

remember that?

 

ETA: Actually, it was the 2000 election

Edited November 3, 2020 by fairfarmhand

[teachermom2834]

Yes. Was just explaining that exact thing to my 17 yo yesterday. Actually, he had seen something about it and initiated telling me about it. Lol. I was like, “yeah, I remember that. I had two kids by then.”

[katilac]

2000, not 2008. 

I remember it vividly. We went to sleep thinking one person was president, woke up to find out different. 

The Florida vote came down to 537 votes. 

[Excelsior! Academy]

1 minute ago, katilac said:

2000, not 2008. 

I remember it vividly. We went to sleep thinking one person was president, woke up to find out different. 

The Florida vote came down to 537 votes. 

This.

 

[theelfqueen]

I was teaching government in a high school.. I had assigned the usual "mark up the electoral college map" ... yeah that didn't work out lol 

My middle one asked me today who I think is winning... we talked about the trends being reported... I told him that in 2016, if you asked me on Monday, I would have been wrong! And then told him about 2000. 

Edited November 3, 2020 by theelfqueen

[fairfarmhand]

6 minutes ago, katilac said:

2000, not 2008. 

I remember it vividly. We went to sleep thinking one person was president, woke up to find out different. 

The Florida vote came down to 537 votes. 

Whoops. I stand corrected.

[Elizabeth86]

Seems like yesterday, but it also seems like a million years ago. I wasn't even d enough to vote in 2000.  Sigh. Those were the days. 

[purpleowl]

We literally just told our kids about the 2000 election during dinner, lol. That was the first presidential election I was old enough to vote in. 

[Hoggirl]

We were actually living in the UK during the 2000 Election.  Because of the time difference, I was well-aware of what was going on before friends in the US were. Everyone had gone to bed in the states as I was waking up the next morning and watching it all unfold. 

Anyone remember that funny bit that went around about the Queen taking back the US because of its inability to to govern itself?  Funny stuff! 

[kbutton]

https://jerz.setonhill.edu/resources/humor/seuss.htm  Here's a snippet:

Quote

Can we count them with our nose?
Can we count them with our toes?
Should we count them with a band?
Should we count them all by hand?
If I do not like the count, I will simply throw them out!

I didn't quote all of it because it gets more political, but this kind of stuff was flying all around as e-mail forwards at the time.

The site links to more (at least some of which are neutral) that I didn't see at the time.

[mathnerd]

I watched CNN Live (or was it MSNBC?) and they had helicopters following a yellow truck with the ballots inside being transported for a recount and then the election officials were holding up each and every ballot to the camera and then counting it ... I remember it like it was yesterday. I recently told my son all about the Hanging Chads episode of our country and he found it weird.

Edited November 3, 2020 by mathnerd

[scholastica]

Totally remember that. Ugh. What a mess. 

[frogger]

Who could forget it?

 

I just saw a headline about how close it is in Florida and was thinking, " Not again."  Lol

I do remember that picture of Truman holding up the newspaper with the headline "Dewey defeats Truman."

Edited to add: I just keep remembering the photograph. I wasn't actually there. I'm not that old!

 

Edited November 3, 2020 by frogger

[BusyMom5]

That was the first election I voted in!  I was 19- i think this one is going to be just as,bad.  I think it was December before we knew who won!

[PrincessMommy]

40 minutes ago, scholastica said:

Totally remember that. Ugh. What a mess. 

that sums it up nicely.

I was pregnant with my youngest and feeling pretty sick.  It was not a good time to be a couch potato.  

[HeartString]

Like everyone else 2000 has been on my mind this week. It was the first election I really paid attention too and was the last one I didn’t vote in, because I was in high school.  It very much impressed upon me that every vote matters and I wanted mine to count.  
 

This week what been on my mind was how, despite ALL of the craziness and shenanigans and questionable decisions. -it was Completely Peaceful. We thought one person won, then they said no, it was the other guy, then said, yeah we have no idea.  We waited 37 days to find out who the next president was and it was just ...fine.  

[theelfqueen]

All.of you people who were in High School  (or younger.... argh! ) just need to hush. I taught kids your age. This is all making me feel ancient. 

(KIDDING, I PROMISE)

Edited November 3, 2020 by theelfqueen

[Wheres Toto]

I remember it and I was 31 years old with a school-age child.  

[Guest]

We were just talking about that at dinner. 

That was such a silly voting system. 

[mom2scouts]

Yes, DS is voting in his first election, I was telling him about the different ways I've voted over the years (punch cards,levers, paper, touch screen), and we were discussing hanging chads. 

[katilac]

22 minutes ago, Quill said:

That was such a silly voting system. 

And it was 2000! Not 1978.

[KungFuPanda]

Why, Pennsylvania, WHY??? I feel like PA is that toddler holding up the ice cream line because they’re leisurely tasting all the flavors and also enjoy the attention of a captive audience. They don’t have to do us like this!

[Excelsior! Academy]

18 hours ago, BusyMom5 said:

That was the first election I voted in!  I was 19- i think this one is going to be just as,bad.  I think it was December before we knew who won!

It definitely was!  I think it was a good two or three weeks before we even had an idea of who won!

[Emba]

That was the first election I voted in. I have thought of it often this year. It was so frustrating not knowing the outcome for so long.

[Lady Florida.]

Since I'm in Florida, and was here in FL for the 2000 election I remember it well! I remember waking up to the news. I remember people saying Carl Hiassen couldn't come up with a better plot twist. I believe that was the day Florida became Floriduh and Florida Man started getting noticed nationally. 

OTOH, my county had switched to paper ballots (optical scan) a few elections prior to 2000 and we were one of the Florida counties that didn't have a problem. Most of the hanging chad issues were from South Florida.

[Danae]

42 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

Why, Pennsylvania, WHY??? I feel like PA is that toddler holding up the ice cream line because they’re leisurely tasting all the flavors and also enjoy the attention of a captive audience. They don’t have to do us like this!

 

If the count comes down to Pennsylvania “naked ballots” will be this year’s hanging chads.

[sassenach]

That was the year we had moved to FL and it was something!