Florida tallying absentee ballots in 9 counties

MIAMI (AP) -- Elections officials in nine Florida counties are still tallying absentee ballots, after the presidential race was decided nationally.

President Barack Obama held a slim lead in Florida early Wednesday, but he didn't need the largest swing state to win re-election. Instead, he captured several other battleground states.

Long lines at the polls and last-minute absentee ballots delayed counting in some places.

State elections officials said absentee ballots were still being tallied in nine countries across the state.

They included Miami-Dade County, where elections officials counted through the night and had about 20,000 absentee ballots left to tally early Wednesday.

Pinellas County officials say they'll reconvene Wednesday at 9 a.m. to tally more than 9,000 absentee ballots received on Election Day.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)