Elections have a dirty secret: Counting lots of ballots with absolute precision is impossible. Those infamous hanging chads from a decade ago are just one of the many glitches that can—and do—arise. Several states require a super- careful hand count in select precincts to double-check close results, and they nearly always find miscounted ballots. A few such slipups don’t matter, but multiple mistakes will alter the election results. Most laws leave the determination of the recount threshold to the discretion of registrars.

There were 34,522 complaints called in to 311 between September 8 and September 15, 2010. Here are the most common, plotted by time of day.
Illustration: Pitch Interactive

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