Some voters presumably decided not to vote after receiving ballots, but Mr. Stewart said many others most likely tried to vote and were thwarted.
Chris Whitmire, a spokesman for the South Carolina Election Commission, said that his state had been receiving ballots by e-mail and fax since 2006 and that he had heard no complaints from voters who chose those methods.
Mr. Buchanan, who has spent months gathering ballot access signatures from some 500,000 prospective voters, all of whom are receiving ballots, would seem to have a lock on the nomination.
They might well receive ballot papers - and act upon them, he told the Today programme.
She confirmed that some members at Hoyer had not received ballot papers, triggering a new poll for industrial action.
At School Number Three, there were plans for a late opening at 10am after the local committee finally received ballot papers overnight but, just before voting opened, a separatist representative arrived and demanded that the station was closed.
The party initially promised that 99.9% of its electorate would have received ballot papers by 28 August, but it is now refusing to disclose how many of the 554,000 have been sent out.
In both states, voters receive ballots by mail about three weeks before Election Day.
Under the new automated system, voters will receive ballots with the names of parties and candidates already inscribed.
In Miller County, near the Texas border, poll workers received ballots on the eve of the election at their homes.
