None of these issues was raised as an argument against ACLU's claims in court.

Two California counties, Lake and Colusa, recorded the highest error rates in the state during the November 2000 presidential election. Both counties have mostly white voters, and only one of the counties uses punch-card technology.

Much of ACLU’s case for demanding newer voting machines was based on a 2001 study by the University of California at Berkeley that found higher error rates in counties that used punch-cards and other low-tech equipment to count votes.

The study was partially funded by Sequoia Voting Systems, a national company that sells and installs computerized voting equipment.

“The UC-Berkeley study was something that we assisted with to help them develop the data, and provided some funding to help put the raw data together,” said Sequoia spokesman Alfie Charles.

The company’s sponsorship had no impact on the findings, Charles said.

Additionally, registrars of voters in California and other experts say ACLU’s interpretation of the Berkeley study mischaracterizes what consistutes a voting error.

“I think that there’s been a lot of talk about what an error rate is in an election, and it’s really not an error rate,” Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters Connie McCormack told the county’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

Experts say there are only two possible errors when using punch-card machines: over votes, when a voter selects more than one candidate, and under votes, when a voter does not choose any of the options.

Either action could be accidental, or more likely, an intentional choice, they say.

“The supposition is if people skip a race and don’t vote for that, that that’s an error, that’s part of the court pleadings,” McCormack said.

ACLU's Condescending Attitude Toward Non-whites

ACLU has suggested the "errors" were the unexplainable result of minorities having some sort of difficulty operating voting equipment.

Experts on voting equipment said part of the reason for punch cards having twice the "error rate" as electronic voting machines was simply the inability of electronic machines to register one of the two possible errors on a punch-card ballot.

Although ACLU says the electronic voting machines are "twice as accurate," it's really only because they allow half the possible errors, they said.

ACLU's Los Angeles office did not respond to calls for comment over two days.

Former ACLU attorney Dan Tokagi, who helped draft the initial lawsuit, dismissed each of the concerns as "illegitimate." He said the quality of the Berkeley study was "above reproach."

On Monday, a three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with ACLU and ordered the recall election delayed until six counties upgrade punch-card voting machines with more modern equipment.

California's secretary of state and supporters of the recall have challenged the decision. They say they will appeal to the United States Supreme Court if necessary.

More: Find out how the New York Times is lying about the punch-card ballots – and how its editorials hilariously contradict its own reporters. Sign up for the free Insider Report.

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