ELEMENT: foreach my $key (keys %Contracts)
{
  $tot_count++; # hmmm...
  {
    # lock block
    lock @{$Contracts{$key}};
    my $Cntrct_ref = $Contracts{$key}; # note: no backslash
    next ELEMENT if
      $Cntrct_ref->[STATE] eq $ST_VOID or $Cntrct_ref->[STATE] eq $ST_REPORTED;
    $elapsed_time = time() - $Cntrct_ref->[START];
    ...