Sentence Correction

Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places have been cited by a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, which estimated that they did not count 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast.
A. Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places have been cited by a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, which estimated that they did not count 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast.
B. Citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election has estimated that 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast were not counted.
C. Citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast were not counted in the 2000 United States presidential election, a new study estimates.
D. A new study has cited faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places in estimating that 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes that were cast had not been counted in the 2000 United States presidential election.
E. A new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, has estimated 4 million to 6 million votes had not been counted of the 100 million votes cast.

[spoiler]OA: Later[/spoiler]

A: THEY Error
D: had been - past perfect tense not needed.
C: Citing faulty equipment modifies 4 million to 6 million people - IT SHOULD modify the study
E: Had not been counted (you dont need a past perfect tense)
So B.

B is the right option.

(d) is actually perfectly grammatical; the error is in the placement of the modifier "in the 2000 United States presidential election".
the way this sentence is written, it suggests that the votes weren't counted in that particular election, but may in fact have been counted in another election!
the correct placement of this modifier is after the word "cast", since that's what they were -- votes that were cast in the 2000 united states presidential election.

when you consider the placement of modifiers, grammatical issues are rarely present. in other words, most modifiers are placed in locations that make grammatical sense; incorrect modifiers are usually incorrect because they create meanings that don't make sense.

gmat_perfect wrote:Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places have been cited by a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, which estimated that they did not count 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast.
A. Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places have been cited by a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, which estimated that they did not count 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast.
B. Citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election has estimated that 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast were not counted.
C. Citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast were not counted in the 2000 United States presidential election, a new study estimates.
D. A new study has cited faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places in estimating that 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes that were cast had not been counted in the 2000 United States presidential election.
E. A new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, has estimated 4 million to 6 million votes had not been counted of the 100 million votes cast.

[spoiler]OA: Later[/spoiler]