2000 Election Bush Vs Gore Infamous Hanging Chad Voting Machine

2000 Election Bush Vs Gore Infamous Hanging Chad Voting Machine. 

Among the most historically important items acquired in my sixty-plus years of collecting, is one with which I’d never part if I did not have another.  The history:

In the infamous controversies surrounding the Florida recount, “butterfly” ballots and “hanging (or dimpled) chads” figured prominently.  For those who might not recall the details, countless internet searches and scholarly works (not to mention a Supreme Court decision) offer the Bush-Gore(y) details. 

Here, however, we need to understand that Florida was not the only state using voting machines that employed the butterfly (page-flipping) ballots revealing a succession of races and candidates for whom one would vote with an attached stylus, pushing out the tiny chads (in whole or in part or not).

As a result of the consequential difficulties encountered in their use, these machines were destroyed or otherwise “retired” by many states and counties that had been using them.  Such was the case of Walworth County (southeast/central Wisconsin).  When Karen (my collector-tolerant bride of now more than fifty years) happened to see a local news account of Walworth County’s decision to dispose of its machines, she called me to the TV just in time to catch enough details to race to the Walworth County government office building liquidating the machines; I bought a few, complete with pads of chads.

Here's one of the few survivors, labeled “T [own of] BLOOMFIELD WI 6” about fifty miles southwest of Milwaukee.  It’s complete – all the pages are there, so one may: flip to the Bush/Gore page; insert a chad card; use the stylus to punch-out a chad, or leave a chad dimpled or hanging.

Truly, an extraordinary museum item – a centerpiece in any display, or conversation piece worthy of living room exhibition in the most discerning, collector-tolerant home.

12¾“x 9”x 2” (plastic, metal, tagboard, heavy paper); excellent and working condition 

From the collection and commentary of Judge Charles Schudson