Kiley here: The late absentee ballots that were just announced have given the Sherman party at Mainstage a lil’ bump. It’s only 3,000 votes, but there’s a two-to-one split in Sherman’s favor in those 3,000.

I don’t know exactly what that means, but Sandeep Kaushik, a Sherman staffer—and, of course, Stranger writer emeritus—explained it: “Early absentees [which tilted against Sherman 46-54] are different from late absentees [which tilted towards him 2-1]. Late absentees tend to mirror the poll votes.”

And poll votes are the shit you want in your Christmas stocking.

Which is why the wee 3,000 late-absentee votes that have just dropped are exciting to the Sherman people.

As if in answer to the new hope, some nice-looking toast with cubed tomatoes and shreds of basil have appeared. Everyone’s too busy being excited to eat any. So I, cad that I am, take two.

Then I hear a woman talking into her cell phone just behind me: “The numbers are headed in the right direction.” Then she sucks in her breath sharply. “But it’s going to be a long, tense night.”