WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican John McCain appeared to have picked up the consolation prize of Missouri Wednesday after the heartland state became the last to tot up all of its ballots in the US presidential election.
With all of Missouri's 3,533 precincts now reporting their results from the November 4 election, McCain had won 1,445,812 votes to 1,442,180 for president-elect Barack Obama -- a wafer-thin margin of 49.4 percent to 49.3.
The result will stand unless Democrat Obama contests the count, which would appear unlikely as he already has more than enough electoral votes to become president in January.
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan has until December 9 to officially certify the results, her spokeswoman Laura Egerdal said.
"We don't certify the results as official until everything gets checked one more time. But at this point every ballot and provisional ballot has been counted and I don't expect there to be much change," she told AFP.
"Under state law there is no automatic recount unless one of the candidates requests it."
Once certified, the result will mean that Missouri loses its talismanic status as the ultimate bellwether state. Except for 1956, it had backed the White House winner in every election since 1904.
Obama will end up with 365 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College, smashing past the magic number of 270 needed for victory. With Missouri, McCain will have 173.
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