In the southwestern state of Enugu, candidates said that essentially no election had taken place because ballots and boxes never arrived.

Some voters made three trips before new ballots arrived.

The ballots from Ms. Randle and the others, they said, arrived after the deadline.

After his ballot did not arrive, he said, he visited city shelters and talked to many workers.

But the canvassing board responded that the signatures were checked when the ballots first arrived in the mail.

There is more cause for concern after the ballots arrive at the Pentagon.

In county after county, Bush observers noticed that military ballots were arriving without postmarks.

In interviews, Pentagon officials could not fully explain why so many ballots were arriving without postmarks.

His ballot, missing a postmark, arrived on Nov. 13, just three days after he dropped it off at the base post office.

In Vogosca one station opened hours late because ballots and voting lists had not arrived.