election questions - state court authority to second-guess the recount?

[Paul Finkelman]

could you literally prove it at trial; call lots of witnesses who say "I
was confused." Put the ballot before a court.  I wonder if this is a voting
rights case issue because the guy in Palm Beach County who put the ballot
together was truly trying to confuse voters?

--
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, Oklahoma  74104-2499

918-631-3706 (office)
918-631-2194 (fax)

paul-finkelman at utulsa.edu



Michael McConnell wrote:

> How would the claim that someone made a mistake in voting be proven?
>
> Michael McConnell
> University of Utah College of Law
> 332 South 1400 East Rm. 101
> Salt Lake City, UT 84112
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Howard Gillman [mailto:gillman at USC.EDU]
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 11:20 AM
> > To: CONLAWPROF at listserv.ucla.edu
> > Subject: Re: election questions - state court authority to
> > second-guess
> > the recount?
> >
> >
> > I agree with Eugene that finality is important.  I assume that if the
> > recount goes Bush, then the Florida Secretary of State calls
> > the election
> > and people might hope that's it.
> >
> > BUT, what if some Floridians go into STATE court to dispute
> > the 3000+ votes
> > of those who thought they were voting Gore but ended up
> > punching the card
> > for Buchanan.  What does judicial comity tell us about the
> > authority of
> > state judiciary to take up this question?  Is this a matter
> > purely for the
> > state courts to resolve (even if it means that the result of
> > the election
> > is kept open for weeks/months)?  Would federal courts have
> > the authority to
> > intervene and preempt the state courts from disrupting this
> > outcome?  Under
> > what authority would federal courts act?
> >
> > Howard Gillman
> > USC Political Science
> >