Mr. Bush's letter followed a request by the Florida secretary of state, Jim Smith, to Attorney General John Ashcroft for help in preventing another botched election.

Criticism of the board has been rekindled in the wake of two botched elections this year.

However, unnamed analysts suggested a botched election could lead to further unrest.

Steve Coll and George Packer discuss war and politics in Afghanistan after the botched election.

Florida, poster child for botched elections, has done it again.

The amendment passed with an overwhelming majority, 78 percent in favor to 22 percent opposed, but allegations of botched elections procedures taint the validity of the outcome.

After days of escalating confrontation, there were encouraging signs yesterday that the crisis over Ukraine's botched presidential election might be headed for a peaceful, made-in-Ukraine solution based on both the rule of law and the continued territorial unity of this politically divided nation of 48 million.

But the issue has been rekindled in the wake of two botched elections this year.

New York City's botched primary election, which became a roller-coaster ride of polling place foul-ups and court challenges, took another sharp turn yesterday when, after new court rulings, officials canceled plans to reopen balloting at more than 100 polling places in Brooklyn.

Americans at the turn of the millennium, before the botched presidential election, the collapse of Enron and the Sept. 11 attacks, viewed theirs as a moment of extravagant opportunity.