About four years too late.

Finally:

This week, the first case to litigate the constitutionality of punch-card voting is scheduled to commence in federal court in Ohio.

The challenge is brought by three law professors and the American Civil Liberties Union, who claim that a disproportionate number of minorities in three Ohio counties had their votes rejected in the last presidential election because of punch-card voting. The case, Stewart v. Blackwell, No. 5:02CV-2028 (N.D. Ohio), begins today before Judge David Dowd.

The lawsuit contends that Ohio voting system inconsistencies violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The suit seeks a court order requiring the Ohio secretary of state to decertify the punch-card ballot. They want to invalidate the system to put pressure on state officials to come up with a voting method with an equal statistical error rate for all voters.

"In Ohio, people that vote in punch card counties have a statistically higher probability of having their votes thrown out because of an error," said Professor Richard Saphire of the University of Dayton School of Law, one of the lead plaintiffs' lawyers.

Even if the case has a quick outcome, there is no way this will be fixed for this election either. Too bad, since Ohio will play such a pivital role this year.