In trying to fix problems that arose in the 2000 presidential election, Congress may have created an impediment to a quick resolution in 2004 and set the stage for major election lawsuits. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 allows voters whose names cannot be found on local rolls to cast provisional ballots, with election officials making a decision later about whether the vote should count. Election lawyers now say that those ballots could determine the outcome in a handful of states where the presidential race is expected to be extremely close. But because those ballots will have to be...