The U.S. Supreme Court saw its famous Bush v. Gore 2000 ruling as a one-off, specifically “limited to the present circumstances” and has, in fact, not cited it in more than a decade of rulings. However, that is not the case in the lower federal courts where it has turned up more than 250 times,
The Washington Post reported.
Recent changes in voting laws have left lower courts examining the ruling for guidance. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati has applied it in voting cases in the battleground state of Ohio. The appeals court ordered it used to sort out a Hamilton County Juvenile Court race, the Post reported.
The appeals court, according to the Post, said the decision of the Hamilton County election board to count one set of disputed ballots but not another “violates the rule set out in Bush v. Gore: that ‘having once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the State may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over that of another’. ”
Like Bush v. Gore, the battle is between Democrats and Republicans fighting over which ballots to be counted, with both country and state officials weighing in on the respective sides. Unlike Bush v. Gore, the court rulings have so far favored the Democratic candidate.
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