Absentee voters cause North Carolina delay

5.0pm: Another state - Missouri - has declared for John McCain bringing the Electoral College tally to 349 for Barack Obama and 173 for McCain. Still to declare is North Carolina, delayed by the tightness of the race there, where 15 votes are at stake. According to latest reports, with votes in all precincts counted Obama has a slight lead of 12,000. Because there are more than 50,000 absentee voters in the state - partly due to the large military presence at Fort Bragg - poll officials must now count all provisional and absentee ballots before the state can be called.

If North Carolina goes with Obama, the tally will reach 364 to 173 - one short of the 538 total. This oddity is explained by Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. Unusually, the midwest state apportions two of its five Electoral College votes proportionally to the two constituencies represented by Congressmen - and the 2nd District has yet to report.

Of all the pundits whose predictions were reported by The First Post yesterday it looks as if the one who was closest was political scientist Alan Abramowitz. His prediction was 361 for Obama and 177 for McCain.

LAST UPDATED 5:48 PM, NOVEMBER 5, 2008