KABUL, Afghanistan — There’s no confusing Qari Fazel Ahmad’s gender. Yet, the 65-year-old man from Herat says no questions were asked when he used a woman’s registration card to cast his vote in the Aug. 20 presidential election.

“Women’s cards don’t have photos,” he explained. “But nobody looked at my card, anyway.” Allegations of election fraud are now so numerous that it may be weeks or months before they can all be sorted out.

Less than a week after the vote, more than 1,000 complaints had been filed with the Electoral Complaints Commission. Officials warn that it’s unlikely they’ll be able to deliver official results by Sept. 17.

In the meantime, the increasing number of fraud allegations means that the legitimacy of the final outcome, whenever it is released, will most likely be in doubt.

One issue has been the quality of the “indelible” ink used to mark voters’ fingers. There have been numerous reports that the ink was easy to remove, allowing some to vote time and time again.

In addition to such outright fraud, there are reports that some polls opened later than scheduled, while other ran out of ballots, denying residents a chance to vote.

But the Electoral Complaint Commission says such irregularities pale in comparison with allegations of outright ballot-box stuffing, along with the apparent theft of some ballot boxes, the falsification of turnout figures and voter intimidation.

With observers unable to travel to many sections of the country because of inadequate security, vote-rigging was a relatively easy task.

The province of Maidan Wardak, just outside of Kabul, offers an example.

Only a few polling stations were open in six out of Wardak’s eight districts. And only a few voters dared to appear at those voting stations.

“In our district, the polling station was under continuous fire,” said Rohani, a resident of Nerkh district in Wardak. “Nobody but the police and a couple of others voted.” But the results tell a different story.

“They reported hundreds of ballots,” said Rohani. “It is clear there was fraud.” National election officials acknowledge that there were problems in the voting process in the province.

“There were complaints by candidates, observers and people about the ballot-box stuffing,” said Abdul Matin Haqbeen, the head of the provincial complaints commission. “We have sent these reports to the central office.” But Shahedullah Shahed, spokesman for the governor, denies there was fraud in Wardak.

“The election in Maidan Wardak province was much better than in other provinces,” he said. “There was no fraud here.” In Balkh province, in the relatively stable north, there have been numerous complaints of voter intimidation and ballot-box stuffing.

In three districts of Balkh province — Chamtal, Charbolak, and Balkh district — residents claim voter intimidation and insecurity led to widespread fraud.

“Two days before the elections, night letters were distributed in Chamtal, Charbolak, and Balkh, warning people not to participate in the elections,” said Ghiasuddin, a resident of Charbolak. “Then two people … showed up and told people, ‘The Taliban will not let you vote, so give us your cards, and we will vote for you.’ These men were very well respected in the area, so people gave them their cards.” Mohammad Azim, also of Charbolak, confirmed this.

“A very small number of people went to the polls on election day, because of the night letters,” he said. “I also gave my card.” Atta Mohammad Noor, the powerful governor of Balkh, has demanded that the ballot boxes from these three districts be quarantined.

“These districts are not secure,” said Atta. “I am sure that the number of ballots is far higher than the number of people who voted.” In other cases of alleged fraud, Tela Mohammad, a resident of Kaldar district of Balkh province, said he saw two campaigners distributing mobile phones in return for voter registration cards in two polling centers in his village. Other reports suggest that the men also traded sacks of flour for the cards.

In one village, Langarkhana, gunmen loyal to a local commander marched people to polling centers, according to eyewitnesses.

Mah Gul, the head of the election commission in Balkh, confirmed that the commission had received many complaints of local strongmen using their influence and power, but said the incidents were not well documented.

“We don’t have the authority to investigate these complaints,” he said. “We only send them to the central office.”