Baltimore Bancorp said yesterday that votes are still being tabulated in the election for the board of directors in which management was challenged by a group led by Baltimore Blast owner and shipping entrepreneur Edwin F. Hale Sr.

The polls are open until Tuesday, though Mr. Hale's camp has said it plans to challenge management's decision to accept votes after Wednesday's shareholders meeting. If the challenge is upheld in court, only votes cast at or before the meeting will be counted, the insurgents say.

Each side has said it has enough votes to win. Mr. Hale has claimed that his side won more than 5 million votes to elect six directors to the 18-member board of the parent of the Bank of Baltimore. His advisers expected 10 million of the company's 12.8 million shares to be voted.

Mr. Hale has contended that his initiative to expand the board to 28 members also carried, but by a smaller margin. Management did not field candidates for the 10 proposed seats, so if the board is expanded the seats will go to candidates backed by Mr. Hale.

Baltimore Bancorp management hasn't provided figures to dispute the insurgents' claims. "We believe it is a violation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's rules for anyone to predict the outcome of this election before the polls close," a company statement said yesterday.