spatial join not counting all points

[DeniseMoore]

I'm trying to aggregate some values at various geographic levels.  I have a file of data points, and using spatial join, I am trying to count the points and also sum one of the values.  I set the Match Option to 'within' but for some reason, not all of the points are being counted.  I have made sure that both files have the same projection (and I've tried with other projections as well) but it is still dropping some data.

I did a spatial join to add the state abbr to the data point file, and it looks like some of the data points that are very close to the border (and in some cases on an island that is part of the state) are not being seen as in the state (the state abbr field came back empty for those data points.)

Does anyone know of an extremely accurate state layer file that I can use to get an accurate spatial join?  Or is there some other variable that I am missing when I do the spatial join?  Or am I stuck with doing an intersect, setting the tolerance to a few hundred meters and hoping that not too many points get double counted (this is really not an option, as I am trying to show spending values at various geo levels, and inaccuracy kind of defeats the purpose)?

I am using ArcGIS 10.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[ChristopherThompson]

With the spatial join tool the match option (one to one or one to many) can influence the results.. have you played with that? Are you working with a single state or all 50? for the points that fall out where do they fall relative to the border (i can see the problem posed by the island, perhaps you need to edit the state boundary to get include the void area around the island?).  Maybe a screen shot showing some of the points that you think should be in but which are out would be helpful too.  If spatial join doesn't work, I'm wondering if intersect would exhibit the same issues.  Also, have you played with doing a select by location to see if those points get selected?