Sayed Masood

FAIZABAD, Afghanistan — In this remote corner of northern Afghanistan, distances are measured in days. The only paved road lasts for less than a mile, and travel often takes place on the back of a donkey. Apply those qualities to an area the size of South Carolina, add in the topography of Colorado, and you get an election official’s nightmare, which is about how Sayed Masood saw it on Sunday, as he frantically prepared for the presidential election runoff on Nov. 7.

“There is very little time,” said Mr. Masood, the top election official in Badakhshan Province. “I have to hire 130 district coordinators by tomorrow.”