Trump, Clinton may have to wait long to know Missouri outcome

The keenly-contested Republican and Democratic primaries in the US state of Missouri is over but front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may have to wait for months to know the final outcome of the poll that saw a record turnout, US media reports said today.
When vote counting for the Republican and Democratic primaries for the 2016 US presidential poll in Missouri was completed on Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump lead their respective party primaries by less than half a percentage point.
Since the margin of victory in each case is less than one percentage point, CNN and other US networks said they will not project a winner in either contest.

Stephanie Fleming, a spokeswoman for the Missouri secretary of state's office, said that 100 per cent of precincts have reported, but some absentee and provisional ballots remain uncounted. These ballots will be counted in the coming days.
Overseas absentee ballots will be accepted until Friday.
The recount law in Missouri allows a second-place finisher to request a recount if the margin of victory is less than half a percentage point. As the count stands now, both margins of victory are small enough that Democrat Bernie Sanders or Republican Ted Cruz would be able to request a recount to verify the findings, if they choose to do so, the report said.

Media in the state's capital St. Louis predicted that the political battle after the primary polls is already brewing that could drag on for months.

"There are questions about whether candidates on both sides of the aisle will ask the state for a full recount," NewsChannel 5 said.
For Republicans, 52 delegates are up for grabs and 71 will be awarded to Democrats.
At the end of voting, real estate tycoon Trump was ahead of Texas Senator Cruz by just 1,726 votes in the Republican race. But it was much tighter on the Democratic side with former Secretary of State Clinton ahead of Senator Sanders by only 1,531 votes.

A spokeswoman for the office of Missouri's secretary of state said yesterday that no candidate had submitted a request for a recount yet because they have to wait for the election results to be fully certified over the next several weeks.
But political experts does not appear to think a recount would be a major game changer for any one candidate, the report said.
Missouri saw more than 1.5 million ballots, or 39 per cent of registered voters, cast on Tuesday. That was the highest amount recorded for a Presidential primary in Missouri history. The previous record of 1.4 million, or 36 per cent, was set during the 2008 primary.

Missouri went to polls along with the key states of Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio.