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Too few polling places, slow and incompetent election workers and faulty machines in Pima County coalesced Tuesday into a presidential preference election that left many voters out in the cold.

The problems are unacceptable and must be fixed before the November general election.

The stories of election-day misadventures were plentiful:

● Voters went to their regular polling places only to find they needed to go somewhere else.

● Thousands of would-be voters were told their names weren't on the official voting rolls.

● Election workers at some polling places were so slow in verifying voters' identities that lines extended out the door while voting booths stood empty.

● Voters reported election workers befuddled by identification requirements and the procedure for casting provisional ballots.

● Optical scan machines failed, so some voters were told to leave their ballots with election workers.

All of these problems have explanations. But the fact remains that qualified voters who wanted to cast their ballots could not or did not.

This must not happen again.

A major factor in the problems is the odd nature of the Arizona presidential preference election. The Legislature created the presidential preference system in 1995. It dictates the number of polling places according to the number of registered voters in a county. According to the rules, Pima County could have half as many polling locations as normal.

Pima County could have asked the secretary of state for more polling places but it didn't.

The presidential preference election is the one election where the state reimburses the counties for costs. The rate is set in statute is $1.25 per registered voter, so cost also places limits on how many polling stations the county can operate.

An estimated 12,000 provisional ballots were cast.

While other states allow voters registered as independent, no party, Libertarian or Green in their primaries, Arizona does not. Only registered Democrats and Republicans can vote in our election. This rule does not apply to local primary elections.

Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez said that voter rolls purposely didn't include ineligible voters.

However, independent voters across Arizona still went to the polls. Workers at at least one precinct were told to re-register on the spot as a Democrat or Republican, cast a provisional ballot and maybe it would count — it won't.

The county could save time for itself and voters by including the names of independents and other non-eligible voters on the rolls. They would still be ineligible to cast a ballot, of course, but the poll worker would be able to tell the voter exactly why he or she cannot vote.

Voters bear some responsibility for going to the wrong voting location. Sample ballots and cards sent from the elections division contain poll information and ID requirements and should be checked for changes.

The party-only nature of the election was explained in media coverage and in advertisements. Identification requirements are also available at the elections division Web site: www.co.pima.az.us/elections.

The rules for verifying IDs have changed substantially in recent years and that alone is causing delays on election day.

But the most distressing problem involved molasses-slow and inept election workers. Most are capable but even a few unskilled poll workers causes big problems.

Simply put, we need better poll workers. The training offered is clearly not enough.

The county typically takes whoever it can get for the job — and it usually has to scramble to find people. The job has gotten more stressful and it's a minimum 14-hour day.

The way to improve elections is to improve poll workers. County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said Wednesday a recent state law allows the county to hire 16- and 17-year-olds as election workers.

Teenagers can't be the best answer. We believe adults are more capable of handling situations that haven't even been considered.

Companies should consider allowing their employees to work the election without having to take unpaid time off or a vacation day. This would increase the pool of possible election workers.

Other systemic problems may, and likely will, arise with elections. But the quality of election workers is a problem that must be solved before the general election in November.