Equipment failures delay final Iowa vote tally

10.00pm

WASHINGTON - Problems with vote-counting machines in two small Iowa counties will delay final results from the presidential election for at least one day, a top state official said.

Deputy Secretary of State Barb Huey said optical scan machines used to tally votes in Greene and Harrison counties, which have a combined total of about 15,000 registered voters, needed repairs.

Huey said the state was also still in the process of counting several thousand absentee ballots.

According to CNN, President Bush held a lead of just under 12,000 votes in the state, with 97 per cent of precincts reporting.

- REUTERS