Elections officials keeping a close watch on the ballot turn-in numbers say about one in four has found its way back to a county office around the state. 

Spokane County is ahead of that, with 91,262 ballots, or more than 32 percent of those it sent out, in hand as of Tuesday afternoon. Slightly less than 40,000 ballots, or 33 percent, have come in from Spokane city voters.

First returns from around the state are expected shortly after 8 p.m. Barring some computer problem, all 39 counties in the state should have their election night ballots counted by 9 p.m.

Ballots have to be postmarked by Tuesday or deposited in drop boxes by 8 p.m. But mail ballots can continue to come in for days, and sometimes even weeks, so a final count won't be available until later this month.

Experience tells us, however, that the later ballots are usually not very different from tonight's count. Any race that's more than 5 percentage points apart is unlikely to turn around with later ballots.

---

---