Ballots in Spokane County will start arriving in the mail on Thursday.

For those still wondering how the candidates stand on the issues, here’s a link where you can hear three Spokane City Council debates in full or broken into important topics by our very capable Web sage, Andrew Zahler. The hour-long debates were taped in The Spokesman-Review’s radio studio last month.

A different City Council debate will air 7 p.m. Thursday on KSPS.

Mike Allen and Jon Snyder are virtually tied in tonight’s primary election tally for Spokane City Council.

Though Allen is in second place by a hair, he has some reason to feel good about the numbers. Kristina Sabestinas finished a strong third, and her conservative supporters may not feel comfortable backing Snyder, who was endorsed by the local Democratic Party.

In an interview tonight, Snyder noted two things when asked if he’s worried that about Sabestinas voters. One, he hopes to do well among those who voted for former City Councilman Steve Eugster, who finished fourth. Two, the pool of voters will be much bigger in the general election.

Snyder, of course, has reason to smile, too: His campaign war chest is significantly bigger than Allen’s.

Karen Kearney, who is one of five challengers to incumbent City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin, has listed two new endorsements on her Web site.

One is from the Spokane Regional Labor Council. That’s no surprise. Kearney has garnered strong union support throughout her campaign.

The other, however, is from former City Councilman Dean Lynch, who was appointed to his seat and lost an extremely close battle to retain it in 2001 to Dennis Hession.

Lynch generally supports candidates aligned with the Democratic Party. He also was the first openly gay person to serve in an elected office in Spokane city government. Kearney, who has been active in the county GOP, opposes gay marriage and also opposes providing benefits to unmarried partners of employees.