I have posted this working paper on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
- The unprecedented California recall election of 2003 also spawned an unprecedented amount of litigation over the rules for the recall itself. Much of that litigation was patently frivolous, an attempt to throw up as much as possible against the recall to see what would stick in the interest of delaying or scuttling the recall. The recall litigation became part of what I have termed election law as political strategy.
But some of the litigation had merit. This paper focuses on one of the meritorious cases, litigation over the use of punch card ballots in Los Angeles and a handful of other California counties in the recall election. Plaintiffs’ argument was that the selective use of punch card voting technology, with its extraordinarily high error rates, violated the equal protection rights of voters under the United States Supreme Court