TALLAHASSEE -- (AP) -- TaMaryn Waters walked into the Jefferson County School District offices with a simple request: She wanted a copy of the most recent e-mail the superintendent sent school board members about the district budget.

But it wasn't so simple. What she found was a staff that was confused and suspicious and a superintendent who didn't understand public record laws. Waters never told them who she was, but a week later the superintendent's secretary called her and admitted the staff tracked her down by running her license plate number.

''This seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through to find out who a person is because they asked for an e-mail,'' Waters said recently. ``They have my address and everything. For what? Because I asked for an e-mail.''

While Waters' experience was extreme, an audit organized by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors shows that many school districts, sheriff's offices and county administrative offices don't understand how they should respond to public records requests even though the state Constitution and law clearly requires access with minimal restrictions.

Under Florida law, anyone can request a public record for any reason and expect to get it, no questions asked. But in reality, what residents face are confused public employees and questions: Who are you? Why do you want this? Can you put your request in writing?

FSNE sent reporters from Florida newspapers and The Associated Press plus volunteers from Florida universities to 56 of Florida's 67 counties. They walked into 163 school, administrative and sheriff's offices last month and asked for e-mails about the budget. Many were told that the superintendent, administrator or sheriff didn't send e-mails on the budget. In those cases, auditors were instructed to ask for the latest correspondence or written record related to the budget.

Almost 43 percent of the offices failed to comply with the law either because they required a name, reason or written request or because they weren't able to reasonably produce a record.

''It's unacceptable. Citizens are more and more frustrated with government and how it works and when they feel they're not going to have a smooth process, it discourages them from utilizing what is their right,'' said Mark Tomasik, editor of Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers and president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. ``Organizations like FSNE and AP and all the newsrooms throughout Florida will continue to make this a priority in our coverage.''

In many cases, auditors were told no one was available who could help them and to come back another time. Some were sent directly to top officials, and still met a dead end.

Gary Fineout, a former reporter for The Miami Herald who was hired by The Associated Press to go to several North Florida counties, was told he had to talk directly to Hamilton County Sheriff Harrell Reid about his request for the budget e-mail or memo. Reid told Fineout he could have whatever record he wanted, but it had to be put in writing. But he also said the records Fineout was looking for didn't exist.

In Clay County, the sheriff's office requested Fineout's name and a telephone number. Two days later, he received a letter from the department's attorney saying no such record existed.

''I just gave my name and a cellphone number. I gave no other information,'' Fineout said. ``In order to find out who I was, somebody had to do a little bit of checking.''

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