San Francisco ? The federal appeals court that postponed California’s Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall election agreed Friday to reconsider, taking the voters — and the candidates — on another dip on the legal roller-coaster.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced without explanation that it would convene an 11-member panel on Monday for a hearing on when to hold the election that will decide Gov. Gray Davis’ fate.

The decision came four days after a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based court ruled that the Oct. 7 election must be postponed because some counties were planning to use the error-prone punch-card ballots that caused such a mess in Florida in 2000. The panel cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bush v. Gore as the main basis for its decision.

Some legal experts said Friday’s decision suggested the court had serious misgivings about the postponement and may be inclined to let the election go ahead next month. The 11-judge panel, chosen by lottery, includes eight judges appointed by Democrats, seven of them by President Clinton.

The court’s ruling could be further appealed to the Supreme Court.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other minority or civil rights groups argued that punch-card ballots would cause up to 40,000 votes to go uncounted in six counties. Months ago, the counties promised to switch to electronic voting machines in time for the March 2 statewide primary.

The recall ballot includes two questions: The first is whether to remove Davis and the second is who should replace him if the governor is ousted. Several candidates are running to replace Davis, including Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Sen. Tom McClintock. If Davis loses, he will be only the second governor in U.S. history to be ousted.