UPDATE: 1:14 a.m.

This is our last update of the night, so the many hundreds of you still reading this live blog (we know you're out there, on account of our fancy, up-to-the-second hit-counting software) can finally go to bed or catch up on your TiVo or whatever.

Allegheny County is at 99 percent, and here's the latest out of City Hall:

LEN BODACK: 2,957 votes; 49.71 percent

PATRICK DOWD: 2,977 votes; 50.04 percent

That's 20 votes. If that lead holds up, it's the squeaker of the night, and the results could be challenged.

Meanwhile, the GOP write-in candidate in the city's mayoral primary has received more than 1,300 votes. If they all go to the same person -- say, Mark DeSantis -- that means the Republicans will actually have a candidate to face Luke Ravenstahl in November.

Tonight's turnout: Dems are at 28 percent, and the GOP voted at a hair under 26 percent. Total county turnout should be just over 217,000, of 860,539 registered voters in the county.

UPDATE: 12:33 p.m.

Act 1, the ballot question that would allow voters to reduce their property taxes in exchange for an increase in their local income taxes, is sinking like a pair of brick shoes. Scroll down to the bottom of the county's election results page (or do a text search for the word "NONPARTISAN"), and you'll see that in not a single Allegheny County school district has the ballot question received more yes votes than no votes. Not only that, but in most of the school districts, the measure was losing by a 2-1 or 3-1 ratio.

The story is the same across the state, says Capitolwire.com:

"Those are the kinds of results Gov. Ed Rendell and Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, predicted in saying most of the referenda would be defeated ... Rendell told Pennsylvania Cable Network viewers on Tuesday night that 'this was a bad idea. This was not my idea. This was from the Legislature. We should have the courage in Harrisburg to do tax-shifting statewide.'"

The tax swap is dead. Long live the tax swap.

UPDATE: 12:24 a.m.

Allegheny County is now at 81 percent. There are 1,081 write-in votes for Pittsburgh's mystery Republican mayoral candidate, a good sign for Mark DeSantis.

Some other details: Len Bodack still leads over challenger Patrick Dowd in the city council Democratic primary, by a margin of 51.6 to 48.2, but only half the votes have been counted. Ricky Burgess is far ahead of Twanda Carlisle.

In the county: Joan Cleary leads John Palmiere in District 6, Brenda Frazier is comfortably ahead of Matthew Arena in D-13, Bob Macey leads two challengers, and Jim Ellenbogen leads William Lestitian, all on the Democratic side.

And in case you were wondering whether Norwin's voters would repeal its $25-a-year library tax, the answer is no, by a 3-1 margin. The library tax stays.

UPDATE: 12:09 a.m.

	Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette City Controller candidate Mike Dawida gets a hug from his mother, Edna, as he arrives at his Overbrook home after being out all election day. Dawida lost. Click photo for larger image.

We won't have Dick Nixon, er, Mike Dawida to kick around anymore.

Mike Dawida, the former Allegheny County commissioner who is trailing badly in vote counts for Pittsburgh controller, has conceded -- and then some. "Low turnout was the death of me," said the Carrick native, who lost for county executive in 1999 and subsequently for judge before this year's thrashing. "I needed the non-party people to show up [at the polls] and they didn't."

Then this: "I'm pretty much done with politics."

Seen at Mr. Dawida's home tonight: fellow former Commissioner Bob Cranmer, who also saw his political career smashed after the two teamed up to sideline third Commissioner Larry Dunn and then build two stadiums.

That bit of reporterage is from Rich Lord.

UPDATE: midnight

Here's a bit of late-night news for those of you who think competition is the essence of democracy:

There have been almost 1,000 write-in votes counted so far in the Pittsburgh mayoral race, on the Republican side of the primary. If 250 or more of those votes go to a single Republican candidate, that means the GOP will get to put a name on the November ballot opposite Luke Ravenstahl.

Is it Mark DeSantis? We won't know officially until the write-in votes are tallied in two weeks. But Republicans busted their rumps trying to mount a last-minute write-in campaign, and unless all of those write-in votes are for Luke Ravenstahl (sometimes a candidate will get his name on both sides of the November ballot by waging a counter-party write-in campaign), it looks like the GOP may have succeeded.

UPDATE: 11:50 p.m.

With 71 percent of the votes counted and nearly a 20 percentage-point lead over candidate Anthony Costa, Acting Sheriff William P. Mullen said he still felt nervous. "I'm cautiously optimistic. I just don't know the system. I don't want to be presumptuous. I won't feel comfortable until it's over. Even in police work if you start assuming things it's not a good idea."

That's via the P-G's Gaby Banks.

UPDATE: 11:45 p.m.

Allegheny County says 71 percent of districts have reported their vote totals, so we're getting closer to the point that we can call some of these close races. Check the latest results here.

UPDATE: 11:39 p.m.

Around the Pittsburgh blogosphere (blurghosphere): The Pittsburgh Comet pulling for Burgess over Twanda Carlisle, The Burgh Report is tapping away on a variety of issues, and both are saying today's primary is a bit a redemption for Bill Peduto, who was criticized by the MSM (they mean the P-G and the rest of us in the mainstream media) for pulling out of the mayoral primary, after deciding that taking out a third mortgage on his house to pay for his campaign maybe wasn't such a great idea from a household debt standpoint:

"The Comet asserts (and I concur) that if the night's results hold up that this will be a big night for Councilman Bill Peduto. After his MSM-criticized withdrawal, he directed much of his people-power to assist Dowd and Kraus. If the early results are correct, withdrawing might have been the best move for Peduto's poltical career."

UPDATE: 11:29 p.m.

Hmmm ... Fayette County's favorite newlywed octogenarian Joe Hardy so far has the lowest vote total among the four likely candidates for commissioner this fall, says the P-G's Janice Crompton. With 91 percent of the vote counted, unofficial results show Mr. Hardy with 2,971 votes, behind fellow Republican Angela Zimmlerlink, with 3,093 votes. On the Democratic ticket, Vincent Zapotosky has garnered 8,558 votes, followed by Vincent A. Vicites, with 7,621 votes.

Maybe the electorate doesn't approve of Joe Hardy's marriage a 22-year-old two weekends ago in Las Vegas.

UPDATE: 11:24 p.m.

With 22 of 47 districts counted, Len Bodack has a slim lead over Patrick Dowd, 51-49. Earlier in the night, Mr. Dowd's camp said he'd "eked"out a victory. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: 11:20 p.m.

With about half of the precincts reporting, Ricky Burgess is cruising over embattled incumbent Twanda Carlisle, with 1,274 votes to her 373 in city council's District 9 race.

UPDATE: 11:08 p.m.

Butler County is reporting that all precincts have counted their votes. See the unofficial results here.

UPDATE: 11:01 p.m.

More from Janice Crompton and the unfolding electoral drama in in Washington County:

"Democratic Jury Commissioner, Judith Fisher, continues to build a lead against rival Phyllis Ranko Matheny, for her job as Prothonotary. With 179 of 185 precincts reporting, Ms. Fisher has racked up 9,396 votes to Ms. Ranko Matheny's 8,693 votes. The three-term incumbent Ms. Ranko Matheny eked out a victory by seven votes in 2003, although the election was rife with controversy and litigation, as Ms. Fisher's supporters still claim not all ballot boxes were counted. A recent squabble in the county Democratic party over a chairmanship election accounted for shifting loyalties which are becoming apparent tonight."

UPDATE: 10:54 p.m.

Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Dan Onorato celebrates with his family.

Dan Onorato is ahead of Democratic challenger Richard Swartz 86 percent to 14, meaning he'll be the Democratic nominee for Allegheny County chief executive unless an asteroid hits the IBEW hall tonight.

In his acceptance speech, he told the adoring throngs that "we're going to continue the path that we started. We're going to continue to clean up the brownfields. We're going to [continue to] consolidate duplicated governments." He also had a message for his erstwhile challenger: "He had a message, and an issue that was important to him, and it's important to me, and it's important to this community." He's referring to public transit, its financial ills and its presumed need for a reliable, long-term state funding source.

"We're going to fix transit for the long term," Mr. Onorato said.

... Here are the latest returns from Allegheny County, as of 10:40 p.m. The Web site also has links to election pages from surrounding counties.

UPDATE: 10:45 p.m.

Another update from the south:

UPDATE: 10:35 p.m.

Out of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter beat back the rest of the Democratic field to unofficially win the Democratic mayoral nomination. "Nutter defeated businessman Tom Knox, who spent nearly $10 million of his own money in the campaign, as well as U.S. Reps. Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah, and State Rep. Dwight Evans," says the Inquirer.

As is the case in Pittsburgh, a Democratic mayoral nomination in Philadelphia means you've won the pole position in the race for the mayor's office, since Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans.

UPDATE: 10:28 p.m.

In Beaver County's race for county controller, Richard Towcimak says he has lost the primary to David A. Rossi, a Monaca councilman. This race is of note because of its nasty tenor; local Democrats backing Mr. Towcimak released information about Mr. Rossi being arrested three times in 2001 for drunken driving.

UPDATE: 10:24 p.m.

Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and his wife, Erin, after his primary win.

Luke Ravenstahl has sewn up the Democratic nomination for mayor. On stage at the IBEW hall in the SouthSide Works, he thanked his supporters just a few minutes ago:

"I'm honored and humbled to stand before you tonight as your mayor and the Democratic nominee ... Nine months ago, we began a journey that we never anticipated. Pittsburgh didn't know me very well, but you embraced me."

An admittedly nervous Mr. Ravenstahl was flanked by his wife, mother and siblings, but not his father, who as a district judge isn't allowed to attend party functions.

UPDATE: 10:14 p.m.

Some Early Returns (say ... that'd be a great name for a blog):

Challenger Bruce Kraus has a lead over the incumbent Jeff Koch in City Council's District 3. In the city's District 7 race, school board member Patrick Dowd says he's eked out a win over Councilman Len Bodack. Mike Lamb looks to have defeated Tony Pokora, Doug Shields and others in the controller race. And city councilwoman Darlene Harris, on the job since January, has won by more than two-to-one over two challengers.

Thanks to Rich Lord for those updates.

UPDATE: 10:04 p.m.

Finally, some numbers are beginning to trickle in. Here's an update from the south, via Janice Crompton:

UPDATE: 8:45 p.m.

In Pittsburgh, we didn't get the chance to vote on the Act 1 ballot question, which asked voters statewide (except in the two big cities) whether they want to swap a portion of their property taxes for a higher income tax rate. But elsewhere, including the parts of Allegheny County outside the city, the question was on the ballot. Supposing you could find it:

"Did you miss the Act 1 ballot question? If you were voting the Democratic ballot in Dauphin County and your answer is yes, it might be because you didn't notice it. The question, asking if school district's should switch to an income-based tax, appeared in the upper right corner of the ballot -- the Republican side."

That's from the Patriot-News of Harrisburg, which quotes several voters saying they missed the ballot question because they didn't see it.

Our first ballot controversy of the evening. The night is young, though.

UPDATE: 8:37 p.m.

Pittsburgh Council President Doug Shields, running for city controller, said his campaign focused on driving turnout in his Squirrel Hill base, but also put a lot of energy into the North Side and West End, while others battled over the South Hills. "We went where they weren't," he said.

However, he said turnout in Squirrel Hill was running extremely low. Polling places that saw 100 votes by 9 a.m. in last November's senatorial slugfest between Democrat Bob Casey and Republican Rick Santorum saw that number all day today.

UPDATE: 8:35 p.m.

As usual, things are more interesting in Philly, where running for public office can be hazardous to your health (and so can working for a political campaign):

"The two men who showed up at the Tom Knox campaign office in the Northeast yesterday didn't seem out of place, what with their 'Tom Knox for Philadelphia' T-shirts and all. But it was larceny, not elections, that they had on their mind. The pair followed a campaign worker carrying a cash bag to a back room at the office [and] stole the bag at gunpoint before running off, police said. The bag contained $350 ... The money was to be used for gas for get-out-the vote vans, officials said. Police speculated the robbers may have been looking for a bigger haul: the thousands the campaign planned to dole out to primary workers for their labors on behalf of the multimillionaire businessman."

Knox is one of five mayoral candidates in Philadelphia's Democratic primary.

UPDATE: 8:28 p.m.

One of the more interesting races in an otherwise dull day for the city can be found in District 9, where Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle is running for re-election, and also happens to be in a whole heap of trouble for her alleged involvement in a kickback scheme, which usually isn't the kind of thing you're going to mention in your campaign literature.

Within the district, says City Hall reporter Rich Lord, turnout is running 20-30 percent below what's normal in an off-year election. One veteran number cruncher predicted that turnout wouldn't exceed 20 percent, despite the fact that the race has been dominated by the corruption charges and anonymous rumors leveled against the incumbent.

The endorsed Democrat in the race, Rev. Ricky Burgess, said he hit every polling place in the district, and "six of them twice," for a total of 44 pit-stops in 12 hours. "I've just taken my message to the voters and my belief in the power of hope," he said. "To me the ultimate goal was not winning or losing. To me the ultimate goal was sharing that message with the people of the district."

He, like other candidates, noted the light turnout. "If a look at the condition of our district doesn't drive people to vote, I don't know what would." The district includes some of the most impoverished city neighborhoods, including Lincoln-Lemington, Larimer and Homewood.

UPDATE: 8:06 p.m.

The P-G's Jerome Sherman has been at Sunnyside Elementary School along Stanton Street in council District 9, where, with an hour to go before the polls closed, there were as many politicians as there were voters. A crowd of maybe 40 or 50 people gathered, all of them pretty much handing out pamphlets to each other.

Michael Lamb, one of several vying for the city controller's job, said "we've been to a lot of polling sites and, as expected, it's a light turnout ... but the people who are voting are motivated and they know who they're voting for."

Which you have to agree is better than low turnout and not knowing who you're voting for.

In the city's District 7 race, pitting Councilman Len Bodack against school board member Patrick Dowd, the challenger says "it's still too early to tell, but I think it's going to be close." He says he's been "pounding the pavement," and has knocked on more than 12,000 doors, since January. (Early Returns has always wondered if, when a politician says he's knocked on 12,000 doors, 12,000 people actually came to the door and opened it. Doubtful.)

The incumbent, Mr. Bodak, who no doubt has also been pounding the pavement, says his opponent had run a negative campaign and spread untruths, according to Jerome Sherman's cell phone dispatch.

This just in: Turnout is light, pretty much everywhere.

Our first dispatch of the night comes from the P-G's Rich Lord, whose initial scouting report comes from parts south:

Keep checking back.