Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell went to bed Thursday night with a comfortable lead. By Friday afternoon, that all changed. Katie Wilson has surged to within 4,300 votes. That’s less than two percentage points, with 50,000 ballots remaining to be counted.

On Facebook, former Mayor Greg Nickels did the math . If Wilson maintains her Friday percentage with the remaining ballots, she wins this race by 65 votes. Sixty-five. Out of more than 200,000 cast.

This is democracy at its messiest. Ballots trickling in. Numbers shifting. Leads evaporating. One batch of ballots from Capitol Hill, and suddenly everything changes. Another from Madison Park, and it swings back. Some people hate this. They want elections to be decided on election night, just like the old days. Clean. Simple. Done.

In close r

See Full Page