Steve Jones tweets that the Department of Elections is planning to release the first (absentee) numbers at 8:45. Election-day numbers will come about 45 minutes later. Which means that by 10 p.m. we'll have a good idea what's happening.

The author of the racist Arizona law AB 1070 was just recalled. And Mississippi voters decided that life doesn't begin at conception. Maybe some sanity is returning to America.

The state has sent election monitors to SF, which sounds nice, but I think it's a bit too late. The damage is already done; if the accounts of voter fraud and campaign finance problems are accurate, the monitors were needed weeks ago, not today.

The terrible anti-union measure in Ohio -- which was being watched nationwide -- has gone down in flames. So that's a good omen.

Turnout in my Bernal Heights precinct tonight was pretty light, and that's consistent with what I've been hearing all over town -- except in Chinatown, where absentee turnout is high and the Ed Lee folks have done a great job of getting out the vote. This election may be a referendum on Ed Lee, it may be about whether any of the challengers can make a case for a change, it may be about how ranked-choice-voting works -- but more than anything else, it's going to be about who votes.Read more »

As always, the Guardian will have a team of reporters in the field tonight covering the election parties and doing regular posts here on the Politics blog, where Executive Editor Tim Redmond will also be analyzing the results as they come in. But if you want to get out there mix and mingle with the campaigns yourself, here's a list of the parties around San Francisco, most of which start around 8:30 and last until around 11. 

John Avalos for Mayor, Roccapulco, 3140 Mission St.

Dennis Herrera for Mayor, Club Mighty, 119 Utah St.Read more »

I'm glad someone else has noticed the problem with giving a political fixer his own newspaper column. Read more »

Political consultants love direct mail. It's a perfect way to target your message. You buy an ad in the Chronicle, you have to pay to reach all of the readers -- the ones outside of San Francisco, the ones who will never vote for your candidate anyway -- and the ones who almost certainly won't vote. With the Department of Elections database and a good computer, you can limit your mailings to people who vote regularly. You can mail only to Democrats, or you can mail only to women, or only to people in certain neighborhoods. Read more »

A new video produced by lawyer Ben Rosefeld includes disturbing footage of deputy sheriffs under the supervision of Paul Miyamoto using excessive force on peaceful protesters. It reflects charges in a 2007 lawsuit against the city -- and evidence collected in that case shows that Miyamoto, now a captain in the department and a candidate for sheriff, was an active participant in the alleged misconduct.

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Six major mayoral candidates, including John Avalos, Dennis Herrera and Leland Yee, have once again called on the Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate the Ed Lee voter-fraud charges. That's what needs to happen, of course. And the district attorney should do a thorough investigation and file criminal charges if warranted.Read more »