Iowa’s votes in the U.S. presidential election one week ago may come under fire if the Republican Party requests a recount later this week.

Unofficial numbers for Iowa show Democratic candidate Al Gore with a razor-thin edge over Republican candidate George W. Bush. Fewer than 5,000 of the 1.3 million votes cast in Iowa separate the two mainstream candidates, said Don Stanley, spokesman for the Iowa Secretary of State Office.

Canvassing for county votes was conducted yesterday and today, as county officials go precinct by precinct to retotal all votes, including satellite votes and late-coming absentee votes. The recount numbers then are certified by the county boards of supervisors.

According to the Iowa Code recount provisions, political parties have 72 hours after the numbers are certified to request a recount.

“It’s still up in the air,” said Ann Dougherty, communications director for the state Republican Party. “To have a recount in Iowa, a written request has to be made from the candidate to each of the 99 county auditors. It’s up to the Bush campaign to decide if they want to do that.”

The Bush campaign will have until the close of business hours Thursday or Friday, depending on which day each county conducts its canvassing, to file the request, Dougherty said.

“At this time, we have volunteers in all of the counties,” she said. “It’s very easy to transpose a number. We expect it will change a little bit today and tomorrow, going up and down.”

Florida’s initial recount, which has attracted the attention of all Americans for the past week, was mandated by a state provision that requires a recount, since the difference between Gore and Bush was less than 1 percent. This provision is not included in the Iowa Code, Stanley said.

The Secretary of State Office has prepared for a recount request, Stanley said, by reviewing the recount portion of the code and sending information to county auditors.

“We don’t know how much is just discussion and how much might actually happen,” he said. “We’re just prepared. [The vote tallies] will proceed along with the code and the rules. Up to now, everything has been done as a part of the regular procedure.”

If a recount is requested, county officials will have 18 days to tally the ballots, Stanley said.

Steve Roberts, Republican national committee member, said it’s too early to tell whether the party will request a recount.

“I think it’s a relative thing — it depends on how much the margin is,” he said. “Some issues have occurred in different counties, [and] those kinds of things that are kind of abnormal or unusual are things that people might look at.”

In Cedar County, for example, a dead-even tie was broken with an absentee ballot that arrived at the county seat Monday, giving a two-vote lead to Gore. In Scott County, Dougherty said, technical problems had left out 2,000 votes from the initial tally.

Story County officials finished canvassing Monday, but they are not making preparations for a recount, said Lynn Scarlett, deputy auditor of elections.

“I know we’ve had both Democrats and Republicans in here getting information,” she said. “But, I don’t know what criteria they’re looking for.”

Official results for Story County show a 1,250-vote difference between Gore and Bush, who garnered 17,478 and 16,228 votes, respectively. Gore received about 49.4 percent of the 35,364 votes cast in Story County, while Bush received about 45.9 percent, Scarlett said.

Roberts said the scrutiny of the initial election results has raised national interest in politics.

“This is a historic time,” he said. “There are people who never were interested in this stuff who are just fascinated.”