1.   AN ECONOMIC MODEL FOR BAD BALLOTS Bad ballot designs and clunky election processes survive in part because of what economists call the principal-agent problem.

2.   Ballot design is but one of several areas where the election reform law directs the department to come up with specific standards.

3.   Bad ballot designs and clunky election processes survive where hard-to-navigate Web sites and poorly run restaurants never could.

4.   Ballot designs are approved by local election commissions, subject to some general guidelines.

5.   -- Require the Division of Elections to adopt a uniform ballot design for each voting system used in the state.

6.   Democratic voters there allege the ballot design was so confusing that thousands of voters were essentially disenfranchised.

7.   Democratic and Republican Party officials reviewed and approved the ballot design.

8.   In Palm Beach, Fla., some voters, claiming a confusing ballot design, apparently cast their vote for Patrick J. Buchanan rather than Al Gore.

9.   Iorio, who is also the president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, knew that ballot design would be the big issue.

10.   Later, during the question-and-answer portion of the meeting, the man stood up and criticized her ballot design.