10 days after election, votes still being counted

The outcome of the races won't give the GOP a new chance to take back the majority.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ten days after Election Day, the outcome is still in dispute in a handful of close contests for the House as election officials count and recount ballots from absentee voters and those who were challenged at the polls.
Election officials in North Carolina and New Mexico hoped to have certified results late Friday, while a dispute in Ohio over a new voter identification law will delay results in one race until past Thanksgiving weekend.
Elections in Louisiana and Texas will go to runoffs in December.
And in Florida, a judge is holding hearings over ballots used by electronic voting machines that recorded a much higher number of undervotes in the close contest to replace GOP Rep. Katherine Harris. The Associated Press called that race for Republican Vern Buchanan.
The outcome of these races won't give Republicans a new chance to take back the majority in Congress that Democrats won Election Day, since Democrats have too big a margin of control. And most of the races are in seats already held by the GOP.
Right now, Democrats hold 232 seats and Republicans hold 198 seats -- excluding five House seats where the outcome is uncalled (and not the Louisiana runoff, since it will remain Democrat regardless of who wins).
In question
Still to be called are:
New Mexico, 1st District: Republican Rep. Heather Wilson led Democrat Patricia Madrid by just over 1,100 votes out of more than 200,000 cast. Officials hoped to finish counting roughly 1,500 remaining votes by late Friday.
North Carolina, 8th District: Rep. Robin Hayes, a Republican, led Democrat Larry Kissell by about 400 votes. Results were still pending from one county, and the race appeared headed to a recount.
In addition, runoffs will pick the officeholder in Louisiana, where Democratic Rep. William Jefferson, the subject of an FBI bribery investigation, will face fellow Democrat Karen Carter in a Dec. 9 runoff; and in Texas, where GOP Rep. Henry Bonilla will face Democratic former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in a yet-unscheduled runoff to happen no sooner than Dec. 12.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.