Election: Two updates to vote count on Friday

If the tight Seattle mayoral race didn't have enough drama aleady, King County elections officials said they would release two counts today -- one at 4:30 p.m. and another between 9 pm and 10 pm.

Elections spokeswoman Megan Coppersmith said it's impossible to tell how many of the ballots counted today will be from Seattle voters. But it sounds like the brunt of the remaining ballots will be tallied today.

Elections anticipates adding 100,000 votes to the count countywide today. The remaining 50,000 ballots on hand will be processed early next week, she said.

The second count was to have been released on Monday. But Coppersmith said elections workers decided to work late today to avoid having to work over the weekend.

Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan camp oin Thursday said that if the trend continues a recount is inevitable.

Thursday's count left Mike McGinn leading Mallahan by only 515 votes. McGinn actual,ly increased his lead Thursday by 53 votes. But Mallahan's spokeswoman Charla Neuman said that in the two days of counts since election night, Mallahan has picked up 462 votes on McGinn's election night lead.

Today will likely tell if Mallahan continues to creep closer or if McGinn can widen the gap. Or they may just stay deadlocked.