King County Elections has just published results of today’s vote count – first one since just before 10 pm last night – and the first of what will be mostly daily updates over the next two weeks. In the most closely watched race, the mayoral results are now Mallahan, McGinn, Nickels; see those vote totals here (scroll down the page a bit); we’ll add a few more notes here shortly, but in the meantime, all the results are linked here. ADDED 4:25 PM: In the King County Executive race, the Hutchison-Constantine gap is a little narrower – she has 36 percent, he now has 23 percent. Nothing else has changed significantly – for City Council, it still looks like Bagshaw/Bloom, Licata/Israel and O’Brien/Rosencrantz; the “No” votes are still way ahead on the bag fee, 57 percent against; for Port Commission, it remains Holland/Doud and Albro/Vekich. Back to the mayor’s race – here are the vote totals and exact percentages from the King County site:

Joe Mallahan 21101 26.76%
Mike McGinn 20880 26.48%
Greg Nickels 19864 25.19%

Next vote count around 4:30 pm tomorrow. 9:06 PM NOTE: The county’s released its nightly count of how many ballots have been received. The County Council district that includes West Seattle, 8, has the highest percentage – more than 34 percent – here are all the breakouts.

(WSB video added 9:17 pm, the first minute of Dow Constantine’s speech)
Latest results here – Susan Hutchison in first at 37 percent, Dow Constantine is in second with 22 percent.

(Constantine party, just before the first results were announced)
8:04 PM: We’re covering all tonight’s key results, but this is the marquee race – so your editor here is at King County Council Chair Dow Constantine‘s event at Kells Irish Pub in Pike Place.

8:17 PM: The first results are in – as you see at the top of this post – huge cheers as Constantine is in second place (top 2 advance to November). Fred Jarrett is a distant third. Constantine is scheduled to speak in about half an hour.

8:44 PM UPDATE: Constantine entered a few minutes ago to a hero’s welcome. He says the early results are positive but the “campaign has just begun.” He says King County residents deserve a government “as innovative as they are.” He says the message is stand up for what’s right, persevere and good things are going to happen. He says he got this far because of “grass-roots momentum … 2,000 volunteers .. a small army of volunteers that broke all records” for voter contact. “We are headed for the general election!” he just shouted exuberantly. And he thanked people including his girlfriend Shirley, “who has been my rock.” He also says he wants to thank the other candidates – “the ones who showed up at every debate” in a clear jab at the person it appears he will face in the general, Susan Hutchison, who drew fire for not showing up at early campaign forums. “Tomorrow we begin Phase 2 of this campaign,” he says, “bringing our vision, our ideas, our passion to the hundreds of thousands of King County voters who did not vote in this election – who need to know the stark choice they face over the future of King County .. Susan Hutchison is too conservative, too out of step with the mainstream values of King County.” He adds, “This election is about who is best qualified. I have a track record of public service … I understand the enormity of the challenges … We must do what it takes to make government work better. My opponent has not had to make the tough choices, has not had to stand up and be counted, and has offered little of substance during this campaign.”

8:56 PM UPDATE: Constantine has just wrapped up his speech, saying he’s giving his supporters 12 hours to celebrate, and then it’s time to start work on the general election campaign. His last dig at likely general-election opponent Susan Hutchison: “You are nothing but platitudes … Celebrity is not a qualification for King County Executive.” (We will link to coverage from her party once we have it.)

9:39 PM UPDATE: Here’s the Publicola report from Susan Hutchison’s party, where she is reported to have vowed to win the support of those who voted for Larry Phillips, Ross Hunter and Fred Jarrett, with what she promised would be a “nonpartisan” campaign. (Voters decided last year to make the County Executive and County Council positions officially nonpartisan.)

9:59 PM UPDATE: The second and final vote-count update of the night is now posted. Nothing’s changed – 37 percent Hutchison, 22 percent Constantine, 12 percent Jarrett, 11.7 percent Phillips, 10 percent Hunter. (Though the candidate himself seems to have moved on, or at least isn’t in the main room right now, his parents are still here – dad John just came and looked over our shoulder at those new results.)

(added 9:56 pm – Publicola video, uploaded to YouTube, from Mike McGinn’s speech)
Latest results here.

8:17 PM UPDATE: The first run is almost a three-way tie but it’s Mike McGinn first, Joe Mallahan second, West Seattle’s Greg Nickels third.

9:38 PM UPDATE: We’ll have some mayoral candidate reports from Kathy Mulady later. In the meantime, from our favorite political site, Publicola – here’s their report from the Nickels party.

10:13 PM UPDATE: After a few more votes were added in the newest count, scheduled to be the latest of the night, here’s how that three-way race is going:

Mike McGinn 16891 26.58%
Joe Mallahan 16376 25.77%
Greg Nickels 15921 25.06%

ADDED 11:35 PM: Kathy Mulady‘s mini-report (and photo) from Mallahan’s party at Fado downtown:

Joe Mallahan celebrated at Fado as the early ballot counts put him in second place, a fraction of a point ahead of incumbent Mayor Greg Nickels. “His slur campaign hurt him more than it hurt me,” said Mallahan.”We just pointed out that he is a bad manager, and I am a good manager. He has got to go. I look forward to reaching out. I am pro-union and I am pro-business.

ADDED 11:56 PM: Also from Kathy, snapshots – that photo and the following words – from City Councilmember Jan Drago‘s election-night party; her mayoral bid has faltered, with 8 percent of the vote, placing her in fifth at this point (James Donaldson is fourth):

Jan Drago’s gathering at McCoy’s Firehouse bar and grill in Pioneer Square was low-key, warm and congenial as she thanked supporters and handed out copies of her richly detailed “Blueprint for Seattle.”

“I hope the next mayor of Seattle, whoever that is, will use it, refer to it,” said Drago.

“I’ll save it,” said Peter Steinbrueck, who was standing nearby. The former city councilmember is often mentioned as a mayor candidate.

ADDED 11:59 PM: Kathy also visited the Nickels event:

“It’s too close to call, there are still a lot of ballots to be counted,” Mayor Greg Nickels told the media and supporters gathered at the United Food and Commercial Workers hall in Georgetown.

Nickels, his family, and his closest advisors stayed in a back room until after the first results were announced. In a choreographed move, supporters stepped behind the podium holding Greg Nickels signs about five minutes before Nickels came into the room.

Among the people waiting for Nickels to appear were former spokesperson Marianne Bichsel, spokesperson Marty McOmber, Transportation Director Grace Crunican and Fleets and Facilities Director Brenda Bauer.

“We don’t know yet who will be our opponent, but we are confident that we will move on to the general election,” said Nickels.

“It will be a new ball game, it will be one-on-one, head-to-head,” said Nickels, who faced seven challengers.

Nickels said the next eleven weeks, leading up to the general election will be about more than pot shots and false accusations.

“We will ask who has the maturity, and the experience and the track record to put our values into action,” he said.

(added 9:31 pm, Position 4 candidate Dorsol Plants of Highland Park, at Dow Constantine’s party)
Position 4 results here, with Sally Bagshaw in first, David Bloom a distant second.

Position 6 and 8 results here. For 6, Nick Licata is leading, ahead of Jessie Israel; for 8, it’s Mike O’Brien followed by Robert Rosencrantz.

9:14 PM UPDATE: Dorsol Plants, West Seattle-residing candidate for Position 4, just stopped by our table at the Dow Constantine party. He’s not in the top 2 so far but is in “great spirits.” We’ll add a picture shortly.

In all of these races, the top two advance to the general election.

(photo of Max Vekich at Dow Constantine’s party, added 9:49 pm)
Port Commission: Latest results here. For Position 3, it’s Rob Holland followed by David Doud; for Position 4, it’s Tom Albro followed by Max Vekich.

For North Highline South Annexation – “Yes” is way ahead, 59 percent to 41 percent; latest results here.

9:45 PM UPDATE: Your editor here is still at the Constantine party, where we just talked to Max Vekich, who is a West Seattleite. He says his top issue for the general-election campaign is “reform.”

Here are the latest results. The bag fee is losing, 41 percent to 58 percent.

Just putting in another pitch. Mail your ballot ASAP, or get it in a dropbox by 8 pm. We’re on the road right now checking to see who’s waving signs during the evening rush hour. Team WSB also will be out and about tonight at Election Night parties as well as publishing results updates here (and tracking the annexation vote at White Center Now). If you’re at an Election Night party, we invite you to send photos – to editor@westseattleblog.com or, via Twitter to @westseattleblog (or Facebook, where we’re at facebook.com/westseattleblog). 6:25 PM UPDATE: No sign-wavers to be found in the 5-5:40 pm vicinity when we checked 35th/Fauntleroy, the Fauntleroy walkover, Admiral. Guess this morning’s sightings will have to do.

Really, it’s that important. All of our local governments have declared themselves to be in deep money trouble and have to make major decisions regarding how to spend what they have – the folks you vote for today will be making more big decisions when the winners are sworn in early next year. And if you’ve got a voting question, King County Elections has answers – in an earlier comment thread, it was asked if you can just put your ballot in the outgoing mail today – Barnaby at KC Elections’ Media Hotline told us, “If a postal worker picks up your ballot today, it will be postmarked today.” (And remember the dropboxes, till 8 pm.) If you never got a ballot, call 206-296-VOTE, ASAP. More info here. First vote count should be announced shortly after 8 pm, and we’ll track results here, as well as roving to some of the election-night parties.