Ohio Finishes Counting, Sort Of

Bush's lead is safe, we hear, because enough provisional votes were thrown out so that there are fewer provisional votes than in Bush's election day lead.

Ohio's 88 counties reported validating 121,598 provisional ballots from 156,977 checked, according to an Associated Press tabulation.

Bush's margin of victory on Nov. 2 was 136,483 votes. He received 2,796,147 votes to Kerry's 2,659,664. Kerry conceded after figuring that he would not get enough of the provisional ballot vote to overtake Bush's total.

The state previously reported there were 155,337 provisional ballots statewide. Provisionals are votes cast when poll workers could not immediately confirm if a voter was properly registered.

Although the counting is over, the
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certification won't take place until Monday.