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Florida high court stays declaration of US election results

Florida's highest court intervened to stop the state's top election official from declaring a winner in the US presidential race as overseas ballots added to Republican George W. Bush's minuscule lead over Democrat Al Gore.

On Friday, Florida's secretary of state was ordered not to declare Bush the state winner as she had planned. Winning Florida likely would have made him the US' 43rd president.

A federal appeals court also refused Bush's request to block recounts under way in two heavily Democratic counties while a third county -- Miami-Dade, the state's largest -- reversed field and announced it, too, would begin a recount.

The dual rulings were a major blow to Bush, his hopes of a quick certification dashed as Gore's recount campaign grinds away.

The count of absentee votes from overseas was the final installment in Florida's routine vote-counting process. With returns from 65 of 67 counties, Bush picked up 1,057 votes and Gore 597, giving the Republican a 760-vote statewide lead -- up from 300 when the day began.

Cries of foul came from both camps as the overseas ballots were counted. More than a thousand votes were thrown out as officials from both parties analyzed registrations, postmarks and other details.
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