And Now, Your Preliminary Election Results

Among vote by mail's many problems (including low voter turnout and the requirement of a stamp) is that paper ballots take a really long time to count, and, instead of results trickling in like in previous, more glorious days, they come all at once, and then fall silent before until verification the following afternoon. Sigh.

That being said, at 8:15 tonight, just 15 minutes after the ballot boxes were closed for good, the King County Elections Office released the first round of counted votes. The breakdown is as follows:

Council Position No. 1

Michael Taylor-Judd :13.59%

Maurice Classen: 16.41%

Jean Godden: 45.59%

Bobby Forch: 23.76%

Write-in: 0.65%

Council Position No. 9

Fathi Karshie: 5.17%

Sally J. Clark: 71.40%

Dian Ferguson : 22.39%

Write-in: 1.04%

Referendum 1 (the Tunnel)

APPROVED: 59.66%

REJECTED: 40.34%

Proposition 1 (Human Services):

APPROVED: 66.25%

REJECTED: 33.75%

County Council District No. 6

Patsy Bonincontri: 7.30%

Richard E. Mitchell: 27.87%

Jane Hague: 39.30%

John Creighton: 25.15%

Write-in: 0.39%

County Council District No. 8

Joe McDermott : 67.07%

Goodspaceguy: 5.16%

Diana Toledo: 27.23%

Write-in: 0.54%

Director District No. 1

Peter Maier: 50.97%

Sharon Peaslee: 36.66%

Write-in: 0.79%

Director District No. 2

Jack Whelan: 17.97%

Terrence J. Menage: 6.07%

Mark T. Weber: 5.91%

Sherry Carr: 40.15%

Kate Martin: 29.07%

Write-in: 0.84%

Director District No. 3

John Dunn: 26.79%

David Blomstrom: 3.09%

Harium Martin-Morris: 41.34%

Michelle Buetow: 28.11%

Write-in: .66%

Director District No. 6

Nick Esparza: 4.88%

Marty McLaren: 30.27%

Steve Sundquist: 42.85%

Joy Anderson: 21.24%

Write-in: 0.75%

Some of Seattlest's finest news staffers are out making the rounds at various election parties at this moment, and will have updated information, as well as a recap of their experience on this most wonky of bar crawls, first thing tomorrow.

As for tonight, we won't hear much else except speculation, so we're calling it for now.

Tune in bright and early for..well, not more results, because we don't get those until 4:30 in the afternoon...but at least for more coverage.