Bungling the first big test

1. BAY COUNTY -- Minor ballot jams in optical scanners. Some machines delivered to wrong polling places.

2. BROWARD COUNTY -- Dozens of poll workers didn't show up. Polls opened late in at least six cities. Democrats were given Republican ballots. Elderly voters waited more than three hours to vote in Miramar. New touch screen machines weren't running in Hollywood. Less than a full complement of machines was working in many precincts. Later, at least two dozen precincts shut their doors at 7 p.m. despite the order to remain open until 9.

3. DUVAL COUNTY -- Precinct at senior center near downtown Jacksonville opened 90 minutes late; workers didn't realize they were supposed to turn on machines. Dozens of voters left without casting ballots. One precinct distributed Democratic primary ballots to all voters for first 25 minutes; at least one Republican left without voting. Ballots jammed in optical-scanning machines; problem was solved early. Protesters picketed at election headquarters over lack of voting machines for visually impaired voters.

4. ESCAMBIA COUNTY -- People assigned to new precincts in redistricting went to their old ones. People who moved went to wrong precincts.

5. HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY -- Elections supervisor Pam Iorio calls extended poll hours "a big mistake" because notifying precincts is difficult. But a phone bank got the word to Hillsborough polls.

6. LEE COUNTY -- Fort Myers voters said they were turned away for not showing a picture identification, which was not required.

7. MIAMI-DADE COUNTY -- More than 500 voters turned away before machines were activated nearly five hours late in a Liberty City precinct. Precinct shut down later and was closed in late afternoon. Some machines were inoperable at 36 precincts at 2 p.m. Machines reset themselves in another Liberty City precinct. Vote machines were activated late in precincts across the county. Voters say they were denied provisional ballots. In Carol City, poll workers demonstrated how to use machines by marking "yes" on a measure that would repeal the county's gay rights ordinance.

8. OKALOOSA COUNTY -- Republican voters upset by redistricting when they realized they had been moved from contested congressional district to one with no race. New poll workers didn't realize metal bar had to be removed from a slot on optical scanners before ballots could be entered. Battery died on one machine and was replaced.

9. ORANGE COUNTY -- Election officials plan to recount 42 percent of precincts. Flaws on two of 64 different ballot cards used in 105 precincts require hand counting because tears made them unreadable on optical scanning machines.

10. PALM BEACH COUNTY -- Some precincts reported problems with card activator units used to imprint voters' precinct information. Backup units worked. Some poll workers didn't show up. About 115 poll workers quit Sunday. Workers in one Boca Raton precinct wanted to go home at 7 p.m. instead of 9 p.m., so they turned voting machines off. They couldn't be turned back on and remaining voters had to use paper ballots.

11. PASCO COUNTY -- Precinct opened a half-hour late when custodian arrived late to unlock building, but Pasco was among state's earliest counties to report results.

12. SARASOTA COUNTY -- Precinct opened a half-hour late because of a printer problem.

13. UNION COUNTY -- Announced it will have to count its ballots by hand after the optical-scan system that tallied ballots marked with special pens showed that every vote cast was for a Republican candidate.

14. VOLUSIA COUNTY -- A redrawn precinct forced some rural residents near Deltona to vote more than 20 miles from home.

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