The 21st Century version of the hanging, pregnant and dimpled chads.

After the 2000 election debacle, the people of the United States agreed on one thing - we never wanted to see another hanging, pregnant or dimpled chad. The nightmare of Florida united the country in the War Against Chads.

However, in our mad dash to resolution, we have simply changed Chad's image, not its problems or presence.

Electronic voting adopted and changed Chad's name to Undervotes, Blank Votes and Blank Ballots. And Chad continues to be a problem child because we didn't fix the underlying problem by giving him a haircut and putting him in a nice suit.

While election officials like Georgia's Secretary of State and a study by CalTech/MIT trumpet the elimination of undervotes, they neglect to inform us that Undervotes have been replaced by Blank Votes.

In Georgia's 2004 General Election, Diebold's DREs are reported to have performed flawlessly; only the paper absentee ballots produced ANY undervotes. In precinct after precinct, the computers registered zero undervotes. That's what the DRE end of day printouts tell us. Without fail, in every race, in every precinct, the Election Total Reports tell us not a single undervote was recorded on DREs.

But, if we look carefully at these reports, a disturbing pattern emerges: It seems that Georgia voters weren't nearly as flawless in casting their ballots as we have been led to believe. In one type of report, produced only at the precinct on the machines on election day, we discover the fightening statistic of Blank Votes. A statistic as high as 39% in some races, but easily 8-20% in MOST races.

So, is a Blank Vote a hanging, pregnant or dimpled chad?

It appears to be all of the above.

In any given race, a Blank vote is equivalent to choosing "None of the Above." A blank vote means the voter looked at the candidates in a specific race and cast no vote - for anyone.

However, don't confuse a Blank VOTE, with a Blank BALLOT. Because a Blank BALLOT means the voter went to the polling place, stood in line, took their voter access card to the DRE, inserted it, viewed the entire ballot, chose not to vote in ANY RACE, pushed the CAST BALLOT button, and confirmed on the review screen that they cast no vote for any candidate, in any race on the ballot - the entire ballot.

Are you confused yet? Do you feel as if we've morphed you back to Election 2000 with Electronic Chad, successor to plain Chad?

What's the difference between a Blank Vote and Undervote? Blank Vote Chad is simply a computerized clone of Undervote Chad; the lack of a vote cast in a specific race. However, Undervotes must be reported to the general public and, in Georgia's elections, to the Department of Justice under the Voting Rights Act. Diebold's predefined reports at the tabulation computer (GEMS) report Undervotes, but Blank Votes are reported only at the DRE on a clumsy, unreviewed, unused End of Day report at the polling place. From that point forward, Blank Vote Chad goes into hiding.

How does the mystical, magical computer definition decide if it's an Undervote or a Blank Vote? This appears to be the question of the day. Perhaps because they can't, Georgia's election officials haven't answered that question - they are only aware of Blank Voted BALLOTS, or so they claim. Compound their lack of knowledge with a 14% UNDERVOTE rate in the July 2004 General Preference Primary, as certified by the Georgia Secretary of State, and one has to assume it's the "Proprietary Trade Secrets" of Diebold mystical, magical voting machines which prevent a clear understanding.