US election: Florida vote still being counted The confusion has inevitably drawn comparisons with the 2000 election when George W Bush defeated Al gore by 1,784 votes on the night - a margin which was shown to be just 537 votes once a recount was completed. This year's delays were blamed on a large number of absentee ballots which were returned at the last minute. Miami-Dade county, the state's largest, said it received 20,000 absentee ballots on Tuesday and was still receiving them right up until the ballots closed at 7pm. The complex ballot paper in Florida - which is some counties is up to six pages long - is also said to be creating delays as it takes much longer than usual for each paper to be counted and put into the computer system. It was hoped that Florida would finally have a result by Wednesday night. The situation could be worse, however. For some time it looked as though the election could hinge on the Florida result, as it did in 2000. However even if Florida goes Republican, the 29 electoral votes it would give the party would not be enough to alter the election result. The chaos came after further election controversy in Florida, a state which seems drawn to dispute on election night. An error with an automated phone system told more than 12,500 voters that the election took place on Wednesday. The message, received by voters in Pinellas County, was meant to go out on Monday but was accidentally delayed until 8am on Tuesday morning. It said: "The general election is tomorrow. If you want to vote and return your mail ballot, please take it to any ballot drop-off site by 7 p.m. tomorrow. The Mayor of Tampa called for Deborah Clark, the election supervisor, to be sacked over the error. She was re-elected with an overwhelming majority on Tuesday night.