Florida court blow for Gore

The latest ruling in the election saga is revealed

A Florida judge has delivered a blow to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore by ruling that any extra votes he picks up in the recounts under way can be excluded from the overall tally for the state.

Recounting the ballots - but will they count?

The ruling backs the decision of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican, to ignore the recounts and declare a final result for the state after noon on Saturday (1700 GMT) once overseas ballots are counted.

A victory for either man in the state will deliver the presidency.

But despite the decision by Judge Terry Lewis, the Democrats have said they will take the issue to the Florida Supreme Court, and the whole election battle could yet end in the US's highest federal court - the Supreme Court in Washington.

Mr Gore had hoped that extra votes would be found in the manual recount that would give him the crucial victory in Florida.

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With results elsewhere neck-and-neck, Republican George W Bush is currently leading Mr Gore by just 300 votes out of six million cast in Florida.

Republicans also believe a majority of the 3,000 or so overseas ballots that remain to be counted will go to their candidate.

The rule of law has prevailed

George W Bush's representative, James Baker

Mr Bush's representative in Florida, former secretary of state James Baker, celebrated the ruling, declaring: "The rule of law has prevailed."

Judge Lewis said the Florida secretary of state had had the legal authority to enforce the 14 November deadline for counting Florida ballots.

"It appears that the secretary has exercised her reasoned judgment to determine what relevant factors and criteria should be considered, applied them to the facts and circumstances pertinent to the individual counties involved, and made her decision," the judge wrote.

Katherine Harris: Accused of bias by Democrats

Ms Harris welcomed the verdict, saying: "I am pleased that Judge Terry Lewis has supported my authority to exercise the duties assigned by law to the office of secretary of state.

"We will continue to follow the election procedures provided by Florida law and we anticipate receiving the certifications of the overseas absentee ballots from all counties by noon tomorrow [Saturday]."

Judge Lewis's ruling calls into question whether hand counts going on in Florida's Palm Beach and Broward counties will be accepted in the state's final presidential tally.

Officials in Miami-Dade, Florida's largest county, are still considering whether to initiate their own hand count

A separate move by Republicans to force the axeing of the entire recounting process is also under way in a separate state.

Lawyers in Atlanta, Georgia, are arguing on Mr Bush's behalf that the counting - in heavily Democratic areas - is unconstitutional.

Other states

While the Florida recounts are making the headlines, the official count in several other close-run states is still proceeding.

In Oregon, Wisconsin and New Mexico, Al Gore is currently ahead, but the Bush campaign is threatening to request recounts.

But Mr Bush would need to overturn the results in all three states to win the White House if Florida ended up going to Al Gore.

The previously-contested state of Iowa is now safely in Mr Gore's hands, after Mr Bush said he would not seek to challenge the result.

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• Florida court rules out inclusion of manual recounts in final vote tally
• Deadline for overseas votes midnight Friday
• Official Florida result declared Saturday
• Friday deadline for Wisconsin and Iowa recounts

• Legal challenges may continue as far as Supreme Court
• 28 Nov deadline for New Mexico recount
• Early Dec deadline for Oregon recount

• 12 Dec: Electoral college votes with or without Florida
• 18 Dec: Electoral college meets in each state. Man with most votes is president

• 6 Jan: Congress counts electoral college votes. If no winner, House of Representatives chooses president and Senate vice-president
• 20 Jan: Inauguration Day. If no president chosen, House speaker is acting president

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