[20031003]RS21635_穿孔卡片投票系统和加州州长罢免：上诉法院判决概述.pdf

Congressional Research Service The Library of CongressCRS Report for CongressReceived through the CRS WebOrder Code RS21635October 3, 2003Punch-Card Voting Systems and theCalifornia Gubernatorial Recall: Overview ofAppellate Court Decisionsname redactedLegislative AttorneyAmerican Law DivisionSummaryOn September 23, 2003 an eleven member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe Ninth Circuit unanimously reversed the decision in Southwest Voter RegistrationEducation Project v. Shelley in which a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit hadordered the California gubernatorial recall election postponed. The en banc paneldetermined that the plaintiffs had not shown a strong likelihood of success on the meritsof their argument that holding the recall election on October 7, 2003 would violate theEqual Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution because voters in counties that useerror prone punch-card machines would have a comparatively lesser likelihood ofhaving their votes counted than voters in counties that use other technologies. The enbanc court determined that at the current time, it is “merely a speculative possibility”that a denial of the right to vote will influence the result of