Court postpones California election

A US appeals court threw California’s October 7 election into turmoil by postponing the vote, citing the US Supreme Court’s decision in the 2000 presidential election in ruling that punch-card ballots could lead to some votes not being counted.

Californians had been scheduled to go to the polls to decide on whether to remove Democratic Governor Gray Davis from office. The two-part ballot was to ask first whether Davis should be recalled, and then would ask voters to choose from 135 candidates vying to replace him.