By David Abel, Globe Staff, 11/25/2000

ELRAY BEACH, Fla. - Something went wrong on Election Day in Palm Beach County's Precinct 162E.

Voters who came to the pink firehouse cast more ballots without a vote for president than just about any other polling station in this heavily Democratic county.

Many people may have abstained from voting for the nation's highest office. Perhaps, punch-card debris clogged the Votomatic machines. And some say the large elderly population, two-thirds of all the precinct's voters, failed to punch hard enough to make their choices known.

But the stucco station hidden behind a row of squat palm trees and surrounded by gated communities has become the epicenter of the struggle between Republicans and Democrats over what constitutes a vote. The way this dispute is resolved could play a big part in determining who wins in Florida.

Overall in Palm Beach County, 2.2 percent of the ballots didn't register a choice for president. The figure was nearly 12 percent in this largely Democratic precinct, but Gore's lawyers say many of the ballots are indented and show an effort to vote for their candidate.

With every vote vital to the vice president's chances of overtaking Texas Governor George W. Bush's official lead of 930 votes in the state, Democratic lawyers believe the county's election canvassing board has unfairly disqualified 119 of the precinct's 184 ''undervotes.'' Gore's lawyers believe the board is not applying two court orders that require it to review all dimpled ballots.

After the automatic machine recount of Florida's 6 million votes narrowed the difference between Gore and Bush to 300 votes, Democrats selected 162E as one of three precincts to be included in a sample hand count of 1 percent of Palm Beach County's 460,000 votes. The hand count yielded Gore an additional 11 votes.

But about a week later, after the canvassing board authorized a countywide hand count, Gore lost the 11 votes. In a petition to Circuit Court, Democrats called the precinct an ''egregious example'' of the board's failure to count votes with clear marks.

''The board did not count as a valid vote any indentation on a ballot in this precinct that did not result in at least a partial detachment of the chad from the punch card,'' David E. Sullivan, a Gore lawyer, said in a sworn statement filed at the county courthouse.

In the past, Palm Beach County election officials would not count a vote unless a chad, the bit of paper poked from the ballot, had at least two corners detached from the punch card. Circuit Court Judge Jorge Labarga, however, has ruled twice since the election that the county's policy was illegal and that election officials cannot categorically reject any ballot.

But election officials in Palm Beach have squared off against the Democrats. While they have not explained the reversal of the dimpled ballots in precinct 162E, they have insisted that the court leave the decision about what is and isn't a vote to their discretion.

That means the 11 ballots could once again turn for Gore as the canvassing board reviews some 8,000 disputed ballots. If that happens, that might mean many of the thousands of similarly ambiguous ballots could benefit the vice president.

The board's decisions so far, however, have not helped Gore. As of yesterday, the latest unofficial results show Bush has a net gain of 8 votes from 243 of 637 precincts.

If Broward County is an example, many dimpled ballots are likely to favor the Democrats. As of yesterday afternoon, with all precincts and absentee votes recounted, Gore had a net gain of 324 votes over the last machine count.

Both counties' counts may not matter. The US Supreme Court agreed yesterday to a hold a hearing next week and rule on whether the hand recounts are constitutional. But for now, the election looks as if it will be decided by the number of dimpled ballots like those in Precinct 162E that the Palm Beach board approves.

''We are looking at the ballots one by one,'' said Charles Burton, chairman of the canvassing board. ''We're doing our best to determine voter intent.''