Rescue California

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Effort to Delay Calif. Recall Denied

August 20, 2003

LOS ANGELES - A federal judge on Wednesday refused to delay the Oct. 7 recall election, rejecting arguments by a civil rights group that punch-card voting machines used in at least six counties won't accurately tally votes.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said he would not rule against the will of the people by delaying the recall vote, as requested by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ruling was the latest development in legal challenges seeking to delay the historic vote.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department accepted the Oct. 7 election date in response to two civil rights lawsuits filed in San Jose federal court. Those suits seek to move the vote to March 2, the date of California's scheduled primary.

ACLU attorneys asked the judge to delay the recall until March so that six counties can replace punch-card voting machines with modern touch-screens or written ballots.

The old machines are being eliminated to avoid problems like the ones that caused the hanging-chad controversy during the 2000 Florida presidential vote. But punch-card machines will still be used in the six counties for the recall.

The groups' lawsuit claims the punch-card machines have error rates as high as 3 percent.

The state's attorney argued that it was premature to speculate what may happen with the punch-card machines and that delaying the election would be a disservice to voters.