"If Ignorance of the law is not an excuse to break the law, How can a court rule that questionable education is to blame for otherwise technical violations" Not knowing the law is not an excuse. This is in the first line a principle of criminal law. In matters of constituational law, you have also something like "in dubio pro citizen". If there are circumstances for not counting your vote, they must be clearly specified. Yes, a date was required, but it was not mentioned, that the missing date will automatically lead to an invalid vote. People voted, but maybe they would have been more attentive to the date, if they knew about such consequences. Now they know.