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I found that ballots with neither "Yes" nor "No" selections are counted as voters in selecting a replacement.

On 30 July 2003, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California held that Elections Code section 11382, which prohibits a voter who has not voted on the first question from voting for a successor candidate, violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. (Partnoy v. Shelley, Case No. 03CV1460 BTM (JFS), RJN, Exh. S.). Secretary of State Shelley does not intend to appeal the court's decision.

California Recall Election Provisions <-- Link

So, it appears the onus is on the YES voters to punch the YES chad. Failure to do so may result in absence of majority of voters choosing YES, and recall requires a majority of voters to vote YES. A non-punch is not a vote YES.

I am quite sure that a no vote on the recall is simply that -- no vote. The court decision just says that a ballot that votes for Tom (or anyone) on Q 2 gets counted, whether or not the person voted on the recall.

I don't think it will make any difference, but the law is that if the vote is:

YES on Recall -- 5 Million

NO on recall -- 4,900.000

Went to the polls, but didn't vote on Q 1 -- 101,000.

Then Davis is still OUT

I guess the real question is do we need 51% of voters to choose Yes on the recall, or only more than the number of No votes? i.e. say 100 people voted, 45 yes, 40 no and 15 no vote recorded. Does it pass 53% to 47% out of 85 votes on that question, or does it fail because it only got 45% of 100 total ballots cast?

Hope that question was convoluted enough for you 8-)