Which case ruled that manual recounts of presidential ballots in the 2000 election could not proceed due to inconsistent evaluation violating Equal Protection?

• A. Bush v. Gore (2000)
• B. Atkins v. Virginia (2002)
• C. Heller v. District of Columbia (2015)
• D. Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

Answer: (A)

When votes are counted, the rules for evaluating a ballot must be applied equally to every voter. That uniformity is what the Equal Protection Clause protects in election procedures. In the 2000 presidential contest, the Supreme Court ruled that the Florida recount procedures were not uniform across counties—different counties used different standards to determine voter intent. This meant that two ballots could be treated differently simply because of where they were cast, which undermines the principle of one person, one vote. Because there was no single, consistent method to decide ballots and time was running out, the Court halted the recount. This stoppage effectively decided the election in favor of the candidate whose slate of electors Florida would provide.

The other options concern entirely different legal issues—capable of restricting or expanding criminal penalties, gun rights, or campaign finance—rather than recount procedures and equal protection in voting.