"We've waited four years for this victory. We can wait one more night," Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards told arally in the central Boston, where thousands of Kerry supports awaited the election result, early Wednesday.

Fox and NBC, two major television networks, projected that Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush had won the 20 electoral votes in the critical state. But three other major TV networks said the result was too close to call there as count went on.

A Bush win in Ohio would put him within one electoral college vote of the 270 needed to win the presidency, according to at least three major TV networks.

"John Kerry and I made a promise to the American people that in this election every vote would count, and every vote would be counted," Edwards said. "Tonight we are keeping our word, and we will fight for every vote."

An unknown number of provisional ballots issued to voters when their registration was challenged remained to be counted. The top election officer in Ohio said soon after the dispute emerged that a final count might not come in at least 11 days.

"If the number of votes that make up the difference between the two candidates is fewer than the number of provisional ballots, then I would say everybody should just take a deep breath and relax because we're not going to start counting those ballots until the 11th day after the election," Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell announced.