The Supreme Court helped fix a confused system: the polls.

Guest Speaker Joyce Braugh cited four cases brought to court in response to the Bush vs. Gore Supreme Court case that grew from the 2000 presidential election.

Braugh, who has taught political science at Central Michigan University since 1988, said the suits were filed mainly on the basis of violating the equal protection clause. The clause, part of the 14th Amendment, gives individuals equal protection through laws and prohibits depriving individuals from their rights to vote, Braugh said.

In each of the four cases Braugh cited, plaintiffs felt that the equal protection clause was violated during the vote.

Braugh said the cases appeared in Georgia, Florida, Illinois and California courts.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union and individuals in each state, said the rights of minority voters were violated by using the punch card method. The groups cited statistics showing punch card ballots used primarily in areas with minority voters. The punch card method was more likely to produce mistakes than the optical scan method, used predominantly in white voting areas.

Braugh said in all states except Illinois, the equal protection clause was quickly removed from each case on grounds that the clause did not apply to the cases. “Judges do not want to have a record of ignoring precedence of higher courts,” she said.

The judge presiding over the Illinois cases connected the Bush vs. Gore findings to the Black vs. McGuffage and Del Valle vs. McGuffage cases by saying that the equal protection clause was violated by use of the punch card system.

In all the cases in Georgia, Florida and California, the punch card method of voting has been decertified and a state-wide method has been adopted, Braugh said.

The cases in Illinois have not closed, but have the possibility of being settled outside of court.

Baugh said she hopes the cases will go to court so the state can further develop the connections between these cases and Bush vs. Gore.