Gore Victory in New Mexico on Hold

NOVEMBER 10—Bernalillo County, New Mexico, which includes populous Albuquerque, withdrew more than 58,000 early and absentee ballots because of a glitch in the database, according to The Albuquerque Journal. That means the state's five electoral votes are hanging in the balance.

An initial recount narrowed Democrat Al Gore's lead over Republican George W. Bush to 119 votes, with hundreds more ballots that will need to be counted by hand.

The election night results were called into question quickly. "They were just not getting good results for the early and absentee results," said Cliff Aldrich, assistant director of information technology for the county.

Estimates of the votes involved run from 58,000 to 67,000. Gore carried New Mexico by about 1 percent, with a preliminary tally of 244,439 to Bush's 239,426. A pool of 58,000 votes could easily affect the outcome.