Too few voting slips, patchy voter lists, and long queues at polling stations distort elections as surely as burnt ballot boxes and bribes.
Next, like a child's patchy drawing, Hisham lists features – the outsize nose, the exceptionally beautiful hands, the short stature.
After his set-piece, Davis supporters changed their tone: their man had spoken marvellously, they said, but had fallen prey to nasty journalists looking for an upset.The content of Mr Davis's various speeches was patchy a list touching on Tory totems, such as prisons, Europe and binge-drinking, that failed to sound fresh on any.
The online version of the Bahamas registry, which often contains patchy information on companies, does not list the directors of Mint Holdings.
But coverage is patchy and the practical application of warnings indexes and no-fly lists variable.
It's been a typically patchy night for tributes but this is a rather lovely way to remember the long list of greats who have died in the past year.
A parallel point, for which there is patchy evidence, is that brands supported more by advertising than by promotions often carry a higher-than-average list price without much trouble and tend therefore to be more profitable.
I mostly blame my patchy memory for that, but also the fact that many of these mixes don't have a definitive list, only versions, each championed by a particular family, restaurant or shop.
In a list that includes only one song from Illmatic and none from 2012's Life Is Good or 2006's patchy but frequently inspired Hip Hop Is Dead, giving space to two songs from Street's Disciple might seem akin to heresy.
