Some Palm Beach recount figures may not have been audited, spokeswoman says

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- A Palm Beach County, Florida, spokeswoman raised the prospect Monday that voting tallies from some precincts may not have been audited before they were sent to state election officials Sunday night.

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"In some cases, I suspect that unaudited figures were included in that report, but that doesn't mean they were wrong," Denise Cote said.

Pressed by reporters, Cote added, "What I should have said is, I don't know (whether unaudited figures were sent)."

Regardless of whether any unaudited figures were included in the county's report, their impact on the total announced by Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris was nil.

Harris did not use the county's report, based on a partial tally of hand-counted ballots, in the state's certified total. She said the county should have submitted a full and complete tally, which Palm Beach was unable to do before a 5 p.m. court-imposed deadline.

As an alternative, Harris relied on a machine count that Palm Beach submitted after the November 7 election.

Still, the possibility that unaudited figures were sent added yet another wrinkle to the voting saga in Palm Beach County, where three canvassing board members -- all Democrats -- counted ballots throughout the night Saturday in their failed bid to meet Sunday's deadline.

They completed their count about two hours after the deadline passed.

If any tallies were unaudited, they would have been from the final hours before the 5 p.m. deadline, Cote said.

She added, "Don't assume there were any inaccuracies."

CNN was unable to reach Palm Beach County Election Supervisor Theresa LePore for comment.

As of Monday night, the county still had not released the results of its hand recount, but GOP and Democratic observers concurred that the tally gave Vice President Al Gore a net gain of approximately 220 votes. Under Harris' statewide tally, which Gore is contesting, Republican George W. Bush won Florida by a margin of 537 votes.