Second count of ballots is out - and there is no shift to the right in the closest county races. Christina Maginnis has closed with Sam Crawford by about half the distance. She has gone from a 1.44% difference to 0.78%. Or, in numbers, the difference shrank from a 501 vote lead by Crawford last night, down to a 321 vote difference this evening. With perhaps 20,000 more ballots to count, this race is up in the air and will probably not be decided until next week. Or later. Or after a recount. 

The old saw that late returns shift totals to the conservative side seems to be something from the old days. With mail-in voting, there is no shift to the right. Indeed, it is probably a random process and Crawford could gain a half percentage point on tomorrow's vote tally.

Pete Kremen has widened his lead over Tony Larson - from 2.96% up to 3.3%. This also cannot be considered a right shift, as the liberals were very much behind Pete.

For mayor, the gap has narrowed, with Kelli still ahead. She now leads by 2.5%, down 1/4 percent from her lead Tuesday evening of 2.76%. In the city, there are only half as many votes left to count as for county-wide races, giving Kelli higher odds of keeping her lead through to the end. There may be 8,000 to 10,000 more votes to count in the city.

I visited with Auditor Shirley Forslof this afternoon. She thinks the final ballot count could be above 65,000 - even up to 68,000. A lot of voters mailed on Tuesday. As of this afternoon, her office had received (52,000 error) 57,862 ballots - leaving about 7,000 uncounted this evening. They should be counted tomorrow, Thursday, with the tally posted at 5:30 p.m.

Because Friday, November 11 is Veterans Day, there will be no counting. It will resume with a half-day effort on Saturday and a posting of totals about 3 p.m. Thus, by then we should have a total of about 56,000 ballots counted and maybe a final 5,000 to 10,000 for next week.

So - no right shift. It will be a week before we know for sure on all three races. The votes are cast and waiting for processing and counting. Tomorrow may show whether any of these three races have a trend or the changes are random. 

Correction:  As of Wednesday afternoon, the Auditors office had received 57,862 - not the 52,000 first posted.