Spokane County and other counties around the state are set to certify their primary election results today. There’s no big surprises or reversals in the results that were essentially finalized Tuesday night.

But of course, there is trivia that can be gleaned from the Spokane numbers. For example:

Race with the biggest “I don’t care” factor: Uncontested Supreme Court Position 5, in which 42,250 people didn’t mark a ballot for Barbara Madsen or write in another name. But that wasn’t solely because she was running unopposed. The three way race for Position 6 also had 32,125 voters refusing to choose among Bryan Chushcoff, Charlie Wiggins and Richard Sanders.

Having plenty of options also didn’t seem to help voters in some county races. Despite five candidates in the prosecutor’s race, 184 voters wrote in someone else and 8,810 voters just left it blank. And having six assessor candidates — two Republicans, two Democrats and two independents — was either not enough for 158 voters, who wrote someone else in. And possibly too many to choose from for the 7,140 voters who just left it blank.

Race that will be most different in the general election: County treasurer’s race, because incumbent Skip Chilberg will have an opponent. Rob Chase ran as a write-in and got enough to move on to the Nov. ballot. (Sure, you could argue that the Senate race will be more different because it will shrink from 15 candidates to two. But the names that remain are the ones that we’ve known about for months.)

Closest race: Second place in the county commissioner’s race went to Al French with 5,215 votes compared to Jeff Holy with 5,102, a difference of .37 percent of all votes cast. Numerically, there was a closer race for Republican precinct committee officer in Precinct 3134 in which Kirk Smith got 87 votes and Bill Mann got 85, but technically Smith one by more than a full perecentage point.

Most surprising showing: Norma D. Gruber got 898 votes in Spokane County, and about 9,150 statewide, in the U.S. Senate race, which was more than Mohammad Said, Goodspaceguy, Mike The Mover, Mike Latimer, Schalk Leonard, William Chovill or Will Baker. Although most of the aforementioned were less-than-serious contenders, what’s remarkable about Gruber is that unlike the others she did not campaign AT ALL. Gruber’s husband was diagnosed with a serious illness just after filing week, and she suspended her campaign, went to no forums or fairs, put up no signs, spent no money. But she did better than half the field.

Not sure if this says more about Spokane’s two major party organizations than anything we could, but, both have plans for gatherings on primary election night.

Spokane County Republicans will be at the New Life Assembly of God Church, 10920 East Sprague, starting about 6:30 p.m.

Spokane County Democrats will be at Toad Hall, their frequent gathering spot which by day goes by Hamilton Studios, 1427 W. Dean.

Not all candidates for either party will be at those locations, however.

Republicans Shelly O’Quinn, Steve Salvatori and Chris Bugbee will be at the Plechner Building, 608 W 2nd Ave.

Democrats Louise Chadez, Sadie Charlene Cooney and Daryl Romeyn will be at Working Class Heroes Bar and Grill, 1914 N. Monroe St.

8 p.m. Tuesday.

That’s the deadline for getting your primary ballot on the way to the elections office in Washington state.

And by on the way, that means postmarked, not just dropped in some random mail box at 7:59 p.m. If you are mailing it in today or tomorrow, it usually makes sense to drop it off at the post office to ensure that it will be post marked.

Of course, that means you’ll have to know when your local post office closes, because they don’t necessarily pick up from the mail boxes outside their doors if they closed for the day.

But you can save a stamp and be sure of getting it in by depositing it in an official county drop box. Most public libraries in Spokane County have drop boxes. For a full list, go inside the blog.

Jon Snyder must be smiling with the latest counts from Tuesday’s primary.

What was virtually a tie on election night between him and incumbent Spokane City Councilman Mike Allen has become an easy win for him. Since Tuesday’s count, he has gotten 455 more votes than Allen, putting him ahead by a solid 4 percentage points. Of course, a win doesn’t mean much more than bragging rights since both did well enough to move to the general election.

What’s strange about Snyder’s surge is that since vote-by-mail was instituted a few years ago, Republicans generally have done better in late counts, either because Republicans prefer to hold onto their ballots until election day or because of get-out-the-vote efforts.

Although the City Council race is nonpartisan, Snyder was endorsed by the Democratic Party.

Any theories on Snyder’s strong showing among voters who mailed their ballot late?

Washington residents who are thinking about running for some local office this year had better make up their minds quickly. It’s almost time to spit or get off the spot.

Next week is filing week. From the time the county courthouse doors open Monday morning until 5 p.m. next Friday, a would-be office holder can walk in, fill out a form and, if the job pays more than a grand, plunk down his or her filing fee to get a spot on the Aug. 18 primary ballot.

Those who want to avoid the long lines at county elections offices … and Spin Control is being facetious here, generally speaking … can file online.

Most offices this year are non partisan. But there is a partisan legislative race in Eastern Washington’s 9th District, where Don Cox was appointed to a seat that became open by the death of Steve Hailey but decided not to run. The 9th will have a Top 2 primary, which means the first and second finishers go on to the Nov. 3 general election, regardless of party.

That’s the way it is in nonpartisan races, anyway. No matter how many get into the primary, the two with the most votes move on to the general election.

Who’s got elections this fall in Spokane County? Go inside the blog for the list.