Palm Beach stops counting before deadline

10:50 AM

WEST PALM BEACH - West Palm Beach County officials have stopped their hand recount of presidential election ballots, half an hour before the deadline with about 1,000 votes still uncounted.

County canvassing board chairman Judge Charles Burton said they had been forced to finish their count before completing the task after Florida Secretary of States Katherine Harris refused to extend a deadline of 11 am today (NZ time).

"The secretary of state has decided to shut us down with two-and-half hours to go -- that's how she's exercised her discretion," Burton said.

"At this time we have no other choice but to shut down," he said at a news conference, adding that they needed time to file the paperwork. He said there were between 800 and 1,000 ballots left uncounted.

Palm Beach is the last county to report in the state. Republican George W. Bush currently leads Democrat Al Gore by fewer than 500 votes, according to unofficial media tallies. Whoever wins the state should win the keys to the White House, but Democrats have already said they intend to continue the legal fight next week.

- REUTERS

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