US: The spectre of the "hanging chad" ballot that plagued the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential election has been resurrected to delay the California recall election, and inject high drama into an already sensational episode of American state politics.
Just three weeks from a vote that could have tossed him out of office, Democratic California Governor Gray David has won a reprieve until March because a California court said it was unfair that over 40 per cent of voters would have to use old punch-card machines.
The decision by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has outraged Republicans and delighted Democrats who believe they will benefit from a vote taken with the California primary election in March when Democrat turnout would be higher.
The three-judge panel ruled that the recall election, scheduled for Octover 7th, should be postponed as the old voting machines would disenfranchise poor and minority voters.
"In assessing the public interest, the balance falls heavily in favour of postponing the election for a few months," the judges as wrote in a 66-page opinion that sent shock waves across the wealthiest and most populous state in the nation.
Mr Davis said he had expected the decision to be appealed and was prepared to go forward with the election "whenever the courts tell me the election will occur".
He added, "This recall has been like a roller coaster. There are more surprises than you can possibly imagine, and I'm just going to . . . keep telling people why I think this recall is bad for them." The verdict creates the potential for an explosive intervention by the US Supreme Court in Washington.
The nine-judge Supreme Court gave the presidential election to Republican George Bush in 2000 by stopping an election count in Florida as votes were being inspected for "hanging chads" in improperly punched ballot cards.
If it overrules the California bench, Democrats will accuse the court of refusing to apply the same standard in California and partisan bitterness will increase.
One of the nine justices, moderate Sandra Day O'Connor, has "territorial jurisdiction" for California and has the authority to stay the ruling pending a full court hearing said Mr Shawn Steel, a leading Republican instigator of the recall.
But she is on holiday, he told The Irish Times, and the Supreme Court does not reconvene until mid-October and in her absence the decision would be taken by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.
Republican front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose campaign hit a high point yesterday with an appearance on the popular Oprah Winfrey Show, angrily called on the California Secretary of State immediately to appeal the decision "on behalf of citizens seeking to exercise their constitutional right to recall the governor".
Republican candidate Mr Tom McClintock called the ruling an "outrageous decision by an outrageous court", adding, "I have every confidence it will be overturned. It is the most perverse court in the United States."
The case to delay the recall was taken by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which argued that the use of punch cards in six urban counties would subject voters there to a greater likelihood that the ballots would be misread or discarded, as happened in Florida.
The three judges cited in part the Supreme Court ruling that gave Mr Bush the presidency, stating that: "The press of time does not diminish the constitutional concern \ a desire for speed is not a general excuse for ignoring equal protection guarantees."
New ballot machines will not be ready in Los Angeles, Mendoino, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Clara and Solano until March. Surveys have shown that their 3 per cent error rate is twice that of touch screen machines. Mr Mark Rosenbaum of the ACLU said that 40,000 voters could be disenfranchised. The court has given California's Secretary of State a week to appeal its decision.