Mr. Jaramillo said the election began when three candidates forced their way into the election room, opened the ballot box and forced the tribal secretary to begin accepting ballots.

A few county officials openly defied the Florida secretary of state's instructions to accept otherwise-valid ballots from overseas that were postmarked after Election Day.

In many of the more conservative counties with large military populations, the canvassing boards accepted military ballots with no postmarks.

A few county officials accepted ballots that were postmarked after Election Day.

Gisela Salas, the deputy supervisor of elections for Miami-Dade County, said the local canvassing boards have the ultimate authority to accept or reject absentee ballots.

Since 2001, the bootblack contestants have established a gentlemen's agreement at the start of the weekend that they will not shine boots or accept ballots except during the established competition hours.

To make sure residents overseas can vote, the state will also accept special federal write-in ballots from people who didn't receive absentee ballots.

Officials accepted ballots mailed and faxed in at the last minute, and the state set up voting places all around Louisiana.

So I asked what I call The Florida Question: "By any chance, do you know the racial profile of counties where machines accept bad ballots?"

Of the eight swing states that missed the 45-day mailing mark, only three will accept ballots that arrive after Election Day.