Electoral districts differed from state borders. America's state borders looked very straight, while electoral districts had not yet been distorted to such an extent—perhaps because Americans of this era had yet to discover that rare salamander.
When ballots were disputed, there was another place that could render judgment: the Supreme Court. Before Thomas Jefferson took office and Adams left it, Adams made his final appointments, naming some Conservative Senate members from Rhodes, such as Ray Girling, as district court judges to fill the circuit court vacancies left by judges who had been promoted.
However, in his haste, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall failed to clearly state that Girling was to take up a post in the district court. Instead, he filled out a commission appointing him to the circuit court. When Girling discovered the error in the document, he sent it back for correction. The new Secretary of State, James Madison, simply shelved the commission and refused to return it.
Having deemed Girling's appointment legally invalid, Thomas Jefferson appointed Democratic-Republican David Barnes to replace him.
Thus, a new "battlefield" opened up. Besides Girling, William Marbury had a similar problem with his commission. The Constitution stipulated that once a nomination had been approved by the Conservative Senate, it constituted an appointment, and the president was to issue the commission.
Marbury v. Madison involved not only the constitutional status of commissions, but also a series of legal suits involving local judges and magistrates.
One characteristic of witch hunts was that the "snowball" kept growing larger. Moreover, the Salem witch trials had been conducted by secular judges rather than the Inquisition.
MACUSA decided to separate completely from the Muggle world. Perhaps that would prevent wizarding interests from being implicated by changes among secular judges, but it also meant other problems would arise.