San Francisco ? With stunning decisiveness, a federal appeals court Tuesday unanimously put California’s recall election back on the calendar for Oct. 7, sweeping aside warnings of a Florida-style fiasco two weeks from now.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which had sought a postponement, said it would not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, removing the final legal roadblock to the recall and setting up a 14-day sprint among the candidates in the historic election to remove Gov. Gray Davis.

The 11-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals swiftly overturned a decision issued last week by three of the most liberal judges on the court.

The three judges had postponed the election until perhaps March to give six counties more time to switch over to electronic voting systems from the error-prone punch-card ballots that caused the recount mess in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. The panel repeatedly cited the Supreme Court’s Bush v. Gore decision that effectively decided the 2000 election.

The more conservative 11-judge panel acknowledged that allowing the election to go forward now could cause some votes to go uncounted. But the panel said that the candidates, the voters and the state already have spent a huge amount of time and money on the assumption the election would be held Oct. 7.

If the election were postponed, the court said, “it is certain that the state of California and its citizens will suffer material hardship by virtue of the enormous resources already invested in reliance on the elections proceeding on the announced date.

“In short, the status quo that existed at the time the election was set cannot be restored because this election has already begun,” the court said in a ruling issued less than 20 hours after the panel heard arguments.

The judges acknowledged the possibility of lawsuits after the votes are in and counted, saying the ACLU was “legitimately concerned that use of the punch-card system will deny the right to vote to some voters who must use that system.”

Patrick Stroupe covers his truck in anti-Davis posters before the start of a press conference with California Gov. Gray Davis and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman in Santa Ana, Calif. On Tuesday a federal appeals court overturned an earlier ruling to postpone the gubernatorial recall vote. It will be on Oct. 7

But the court added: “At this time it is merely a speculative possibility, however, that any such denial will influence the result of the election.”

Some observers thought a delay would have benefited Davis by allowing voter anger over the state’s problems to cool, and because many Democrats would be drawn to the polls for the presidential primary in March.

But even Davis said in recent days that he wanted to see the election go forward next month, and campaigns from both parties hailed the court’s decision.

“I think we have the momentum and I think we should strike while the iron is hot,” the governor said while campaigning with presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman. “I think people are deciding as the date narrows, as the date is around the corner, that this is not good for California. I’d rather have the election now.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the leading Republican in the race, said: “This legal process has made clear that a March election would deprive the people of California the opportunity to vote without delay and without confusion. It is time for the legal wrangling to end.”

Davis, a Democrat, has seen his approval ratings sink for his handling of California’s ailing economy and energy crisis. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is running as a fallback Democratic candidate if voters oust Davis, and Republicans Schwarzenegger and state Sen. Tom McClintock are among 135 candidates also seeking Davis’ job.