LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California has filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project v. Shelley. Earlier this month, the ACLU/SC brought suit on behalf of the SVREP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, and the NAACP California State Conference of Branches, alleging that the use of 'punch card' voting machines in the upcoming election would lead to widespread disenfranchisement of voters residing in counties that are still using those machines.

Last week, a federal judge refused to postpone the recall election and the vote on two critical ballot initiatives until all of California's 'punch card' machines could be replaced. Six California counties currently use the outdated machines, which will be replaced, by court order, no later than March 1, 2004.

'This is not merely about a recall election,' said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the ACLU/SC. 'This is about having every vote counted. Voting machines are the infrastructure of our democracy. Right now, the integrity of our state's democracy is riding on the performance of these outdated, obsolete, and decertified voting machines - the same voting machines at the center of the 2000 Florida election debacle.'

The ACLU has not taken a position on the recall itself.

'The claims we make in our appeal are as strong today as they were last week, indeed even more so,' continued Rosenbaum. 'If the election goes forward as scheduled on October 7, 2003, we know with certainty that tens of thousands of votes will not be counted.'

The ACLU/SC's lawsuit follows an earlier legal action that resulted in a consent decree requiring California to replace all 'punch card' machines no later than March 1, 2004.

The six counties still using 'punch card' voting machines are: Los Angeles, Mendocino, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Clara, and Solano.

The appeal emphasizes the inclusion of the racially-charged Proposition 54, which would prohibit the state from collecting or retaining racial and ethnic data about health care, hate crimes, racial profiling, public education, and public safety, as particularly troubling, since minority voters will be disproportionately disenfranchised by the defective machinery. People of color (including African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans) constitute 46 percent of the population of the six counties using 'punch card' voting machines, but only 32 percent of the population of counties using other, more reliable types of equipment.

Harvard law professor and noted constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe, and University of Southern California law professor Erwin Chemerinsky have joined the ACLU/SC in filing the appeal.

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ORANGE COUNTY, CA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today filed suit on behalf of the Orange County Dyke March and the Gay and Lesbian Services Center of Orange County (The Center OC) because of unreasonable and unconstitutional permit requirements imposed on the march organizers by the city of Costa Mesa. The suit, filed in federal court, names the city of Costa Mesa as defendant.

'The city's permit scheme is clearly unconstitutional,' said Martha Matthews, Bohnett Attorney with the ACLU of Southern California. 'The Costa Mesa permit scheme invites the very evils the First Amendment forbids: it vests public officials with unbridled discretion to determine who may speak in the public streets and parks and under what conditions, thus allowing the city to favor speech they support and disfavor speech they oppose.'

'We gave the city fair warning,' continued Matthews, referring to a letter sent to the Costa Mesa city council earlier this week. The letter asked the city to revise their existing permit scheme as applied to the march or face a First Amendment lawsuit.

On June 18, 2003, the Orange County Dyke March applied to the City of Costa Mesa for a special events permit to hold a rally and protest march on August 16, 2003. The city approved the permit with 18 conditions, many of which were different from the 8 conditions which were imposed on the 2002 event held in Costa Mesa. Members of the Orange County Dyke March organizing committee met with city officials to negotiate these permit conditions. Organizers received an amended permit with 22 conditions, many of which imposed burdensome requirements that would unfairly interfere with the purpose of the event. When the city and march organizers were unable to reach a compromise, legal action became necessary.

'The conditions were clearly designated to make the process so complicated and so intimidating that we would just give up and go away,' said Lori Hutson, member of the Orange County Dyke March organizing committee. 'Well, we're not going away. We made every effort to follow the permit process the way they wanted, but it was restrictive beyond reason. Some conditions, like requiring our motorcycle riders to provide their personal information prior to the event, constituted invasions of our privacy and showed that the city was anticipating a problem with us. We have given the city no reason to believe the march would be anything but peaceful.'

'We had this event last year with no public safety or security problems,' said Catie Profeta, another member of the Orange County Dyke March committee. 'It was the first event of its kind for lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women on public streets in Orange County since 1989, and it meant a lot to our community. All we want is to have our event again this year, but the city has presented us with a host of permit conditions and roadblocks designed to discourage us. Negotiations with the city have been unsuccessful, and unfortunately we're left with no other option than to go to court to protect our rights.'

'As the fiscal sponsor of Orange County Dyke March, we are in full support of this legal action,' said Terry Stone, Executive Director of The Center OC. 'There are times you have to take a stand for what's right, and this is one of them. We believe the city's conditions are burdensome and oppressive and infringe on Dyke March's right to freedom of speech and assembly.'

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed a federal lawsuit today charging that the use of outdated and obsolete 'punch card' voting machines, the same machines at the center of the controversy surrounding the contested 2000 presidential election in Florida, will needlessly and unlawfully disenfranchise African-American, Latino, and Asian-American voters in counties where such machines are still in use.

Following the contested presidential election of 2000, the ACLU/SC filed suit against the state of California on similar grounds and won. The state then entered into a consent decree, whereby they agreed to replace all 'punch card' voting machines in use by the March 2004 primary election.

'The ACLU of Southern California takes no position on the Governor's recall,' said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU/SC. 'Our interest is in seeing to it that every voter will have his or her vote counted accurately. Most of us are now aware of the problems associated with these voting machines - I don't believe any one of us would like to see a repeat of the Florida presidential election debacle here in the Golden State.'

As many as 8 million voters could be at the mercy of the defective 'VotoMatic' or 'Pollstar' machines. At least six counties in the state (Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Clara, Solano, and Mendocino) are certain to use 'punch card' voting machines if the election takes place on October 7, 2003.

In the November 2000 presidential election, the error rate for the 'punch card' machines was more than double that of any other system used in the state. 'Votomatic' or 'Pollstar' machines accounted for 74.8% of all ballots cast that did not register a vote for president in California.

'If the October election goes forward, we can predict with absolute certainty that every Californian's vote will not count,' said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the ACLU/SC. 'Democracy in California should not hang by a chad.'

The ACLU of Northern California and ACLU of San Diego also joined the ACLU of Southern California in filing today's lawsuit.