Stress forces Florida official to quit

The pressure bites: Officials work 15-hour days

The strain of refereeing a crucial battle, which may help determine the US presidency has finally driven Broward County canvassing supervisor Jane Carroll to the end of her tether.

I feel like I'm incarcerated

Jane Carroll
Broward County canvassing board

"It's like having election day for 10 days in a row," said Mrs Carroll on Monday, as she announced her decision to resign and go on holiday to California.

She said she had to resign in order to protect her health.

Mrs Carroll had been working 15-hour days scrutinising ballots and arbitrating bitter disputes between Republicans and Democrats.

"I feel like I'm incarcerated, with lunch and dinner brought into me and six attorneys sitting across from me the entire day."

Replacement found

Mrs Carroll was the only Republican on the three-person canvassing board, which administers electoral counts in Broward County in Florida.

Jane Carroll (right) and the other members of the Broward canvassing board

Circuit Judge Robert Rosenberg is expected to be named as her replacement on the board on Tuesd.ay.

He was chosen for the post after the canvassing board's stand-ins were not prepared to commit the time required for the job.

Judge Rosenberg was appointed to the Circuit Court in 1999 by Governer Jeb Bush, brother to the Republican candidate George W. Bush.

Gore still lagging

Despite the disruption, the county hopes to have finished the recount by Thursday.

The Gore campaign had been expecting to improve its performance significantly during the recount.

Another Broward County official feels the strain

But with over 85% of votes in Broward County now recounted, unofficial returns suggest that the vice-president has only picked up an extra 117 votes.

Mr Gore has added a handful of extra votes in neighbouring Palm Beach County.

He is now in desperate need of a boost in Florida's biggest district, Miami Dade County, which is also carrying out a manual recount.

But statisticians have projected that he will not increase his tally sufficiently to be able to overtake Mr Bush.

The validity of the manual recounts is still under consideration by the Florida supreme court.