Nearly all votes in Washington state are cast by mail, and must be post-marked (as opposed to received) by Nov. 2. Polling stations and ballot drop-offs are open until 8 p.m. (11 p.m. EST). Therefore, given the exceedingly tight nature of this race, we are unlikely to know the winner by tonight/early tomorrow.

The Secretary of State estimates that only 60 percent of ballots will be counted on Election night; those results will be released at about 8:15 local time. The next batch of numbers isn’t expected until Wednesday afternoon.

Washington has a history of close races. State law mandates a recount if less than 2,000 votes separate the two candidates after the initial vote, and both parties are preparing for the worst, hoping to avoid a repeat of the Franken-Coleman fiasco in Minnesota that dragged on for nine months.

Washington voters will remember that when Dino Rossi ran for governor in 2004, he lead the initial vote by 261 votes, and continued to lead after two subsequent recounts. However, following a third recount done by hand, Democrat Chris Gregoire was declared the winner by 133 votes, prompting numerous accusations of fraud and corruption from Republican supporters.

This year, neither side wants to take any chances. Teams of lawyers are on standby. State Democrats asked federal election officials back in August for permission to spend money preparing for a recount battle. The GOP has a website, nomorefrankens.com, devoted to that very purpose. “In ‘04 we just weren’t as prepared as we know we need to be now,” Rossi said recently. “Just in case.”