Definition: chad

A piece of paper that is punched out on a punch card, paper tape or on the borders of continuous forms. A chadded form is when the holes are cut completely through, which is typical of punch cards. In a chadless form or in chadless paper tape, the chads are still attached to one edge of the hole.

Chads on the Floor!
In the U.S. presidential election of 2000, people were up in arms over the extra chads on the floor where several Florida counties were recounting the vote. The punched holes (chads) are supposed to fall out of the cards when they are punched. The fact that some chads were still hanging but the additional handling caused them to fall away later was perfectly natural. Why nobody informed the officials that this was normal was as ridiculous as the antiquated voting equipment.