And the winner is ...

It's another term for Mayors R.T. Rybak in Minneapolis and Chris Coleman in St. Paul, both of whom easily outdistanced challengers. St. Paul voted to adopt Ranked Choice Voting (Instant Run-off Voting) for municipal elections. Minneapolis voted to keep the Board of Estimate and Taxation.

In the St. Paul school board races: Vallay Moua Varro wins a two-year term on the school board, and Elona Street-Stewart is re-elected. Jean O'Connell has won a seat on the school board, and incumbent John Brodrick edged out incumbent Tom Goldstein by 13,906 to 13,512.

St. Paul results began coming in by 8:30 p.m. and were all in before 11 p.m. Minneapolis results didn't start coming in until abter 9:30, as ballots were driven to the warehouse, but were all in by 11:30 p.m. Minneapolis voter turnout was 19.5 percent and St. Paul turnout was 21.6 percent.

With the final Minneapolis results in at 11:30 p.m., here's how it stacked up:

Ward 1 - Kevin Reich

Ward 2 - Cam Gordon

Ward 3 - Diane Hofstede

Ward 4 - no winner yet

Ward 5 - no winner yet

Ward 6 - Robert Lilligren

Ward 7 - Lisa Goodman

Ward 8 - Elizabeth Glidden

Ward 9 - Gary Schiff

Ward 10 - Meg Tuthill

Ward 11 - John Quincy

Ward 12 -Sandy Colvin Roy

Ward 13 - Betsy Hodges

Candidates leading in the count, but failing to get the necessary 50% plus one vote for outright victory, will go to the Ranked Choice Voting count. Don Samuels (Ward 5) and Barb Johnson (Ward 4) both led, but received less than 50% of votes cast, meaning the races will not be decided until the RCV count is completed.

In Ward 4, incumbent Barb Johnson had 1545 votes, or 46.89 percent, trailed by fellow DFLer Troy Parker with 919 votes, Green Party candidate Marcus Harcus with 442 votes, and Independent Troy Clark with 384 votes. Johnson said that she had to "give her opponents credit" for a hard race, but indicated that she was confident of a win in round 2.

In Ward 5, incumbent Don Samuels had 1015 votes, or 46.99 percent, followed by Natalie Johnson Lee with 649, Kenya Mcknight with 336, Roger Smithrud with 92, and Lennie Chism with 60.

By 9:35 p.m., Minneapolis results beginning to trickle in on Secretary of State website. Official results will take a while, because of necessity for hand-counting under Ranked Choice Voting -- Art Hughes explains here. Hand counting will begin November 4 at 11 a.m. at the Minneapolis Elections Warehouse, 732A Harding St. NE. Of course, any candidate who wins 50% plus one vote will win outright.

Outside Minnesota

In two closely-watched gubernatorial races, both Virginia and New Jersey elected Republicans, despite strong support for the Democratic candidates by President Barack Obama.

In New York's 23rd Congressional District, formerly a solid Republican district, Democratic underdog Bill Owens won -- with some help from Minnesota Republicans Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty. Bachmann and Pawlenty were among the Republicans who endorsed Conservative candidate Douglas Hoffman over Republican moderate Dede Scozzafava. This weekend, Scozzafava withdrew and endorsed Owens.

In Maine, opponents overturned a law allowing same-sex marriage in a referendum. Across the continent, Washington voters approved Referendum 71, upholding legislation that gives same sex couples legal rights as domestic partners.

UPDATES: Sixth Ward campaign story and RCV explained - again

Additional reporting by Art Hughes