Good morning Boston and happy election day. For the first time in 20 years we’re hosting a mayoral election without incumbent Mayor Tom Menino’s name on the ballot. Either State Representative Marty Walsh or City Councilor At-Large John Connolly will emerge victorious from the fray to succeed Menino in City Hall. The only thing for sure thus far is that both candidates have Boston’s future and best interests at heart.

Update (9:22 pm):

John Connolly concedes to Marty Walsh

 

Update (9:02pm):

 

Update (8:50 pm):

 

Update (8:42 pm):

 

Update (8:41 pm):

 

Update (8:36 pm):

 

Update (8:34 pm): Early lead for John Connolly

 

Update (8:20 pm): Behind the scenes of the Marty Walsh festivities tonight

 

Update (8:15 pm): Behind the scenes of the John Connolly festivities tonight

 

Update (8:00 pm):

 

Update (7:15 pm): A view from inside the Marty Walsh camp

 

Update (6:56 pm): A view inside the John Connolly camp

 

Update (6:48 pm): Latest voter turnout for Boston mayoral election

 

Update (6:33 pm): Latest social media insights from Crimson Hexagon’s ForSight technology

Martin Walsh:

– In the past 24-hours, more than 3,241 Twitter posts mentioning Walsh have been sent

John Connolly

– In the past 24-hours, more than 2,474 Twitter posts mentioning Connolly have been sent

 

Update (6:21 pm): Voter turnout increase after work hours

 

Update (5:56 pm): Massive advertisements from both Connolly and Walsh

 

 

Update (5:41 pm): Boston votes in elections since 2008

 

Update (5:37 pm): Boston Teachers Union supports Marty Walsh – Boston.com

“Our elected leadership have come to the conclusion that Marty Walsh will be a more inclusive mayor and a better leader for our school system than his opponent,” Richard Stutman, the union’s president, wrote in the bulletin.

Update (5:33 pm): State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry mobilizing her support for Marty Walsh

 

Update (4:56 pm): Pictures & Thoughts From the Polls– Boston Comes Out to Choose the Next #BosMayor

 

Update (4:46 pm): Multiple non-registered Boston Red Sox unofficially pulling for Marty Walsh. Any Boston athletes leaning towards Connolly?

 

Update (4:40 pm): Great interactive map depicting voter turnout in Boston mayoral election, courtesy of MassINC Polling Group’s Rich Parr. Based on 3pm numbers.

 

Update (4:06 pm): Adam Reilly and Peter Kadzis talk Boston politics from WGBH

 

Update (3:56 pm): Meanwhile, as the Boston mayoral election continues, hacker group Anonymous sets up shop outside of Fox 25 News

Update (3:35 pm): Infographic based on 3pm voter turnout data

 

Update (3:05 pm): Check out this dual-schedule showing where and when Marty Walsh and John Connolly will be once the polls close at 8pm tonight.

 

Update (2:54 pm): Awesome political cartoon by Boston Image Works

 

Update (2:35 pm): Informal Boston mayoral poll on Boston subreddit shows John Connolly in slight lead

 

Update (2:30 pm):

 

Update (2:28 pm): Campaign trail going cold. At least, for now

 

Update (1:50 pm): Generalizations from USA Today,

“Walsh, a former union official before his election to the House in 1997, is leaning on support from labor organizations. Connolly tried to make education his core issue and was hoping an army of ‘moms’ would help propel him into the top office in New England’s largest city.”

 

Update (1:22 pm): Interesting juxtaposition from WCVB’s Scott Isaacs

 

Update (12:55): More data gathered using Crimson Hexagon’s ForSight technology

John Connolly:

– In the past 24-hours, more than 1,600 Tweets mentioning Connolly have been sent (image below showing recent tweets posted and top hours for tweets)

– Since October 4, 25,352 posts on Twitter have mentioned Connolly

Martin Walsh:

– In the past 24-hours, more than 2,900 Tweets mentioning Walsh have been sent (image below showing recent tweets posted and top hours for tweets)

– Since October 4, 26,877 posts on Twitter have mentioned Walsh

 

Update (12:45 pm): Social media snapshot– Walsh and Connolly have almost identical, yet opposite, social media following numbers

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Update (12:40 pm): 54,122 voters have turned out by 12 PM — 14.55 percent

 

Update (12:32 pm): The John Connolly camp gets a show from Mayor Tom Menino while the Walsh camp has support from non-registered Boston Red Sox players

Update (12:24 pm): NerdWallet study shows Massachusetts is the 5th most politically engaged state (counting Washington D.C.) based on number of registered voters and voter turnout on election day.

Update (11:55 am): Boston Globe video of Mayor Menino on not seeing his name on the ballot for first time in 20 years

Update (11:50 am): CommonWealth Magazine’s Paul McMorrow compiled OCPF data to compare Super PAC spending on the mayoral race

 

Update (11:45 am): The Marty Walsh campaign just uploaded a video clip to their YouTube page of their election eve rally last night

 

Update (10:50 am): A good question here by David Bernstein of Boston Magazine

 

Update (10:35 am): Preliminary vote numbers from September 24 at 9am

Update (10:30 am): Great old photo of a letter sent to voters by James Michael Curley, via Boston City Archives

Update (10:14 am): TIME magazine weighs in on the Boston mayoral race and on outside monetary campaign support

Update (10:07 am): Unofficial voter turnout numbers as of 9am this morning

Update (9:56 am): At 4pm yesterday:

Marty Walsh: 22,807 posts on Twitter that mentioned him in the last month, almost 150 more than John Connolly, 2% of posts were positive, the rest were neutral

John Connolly: 22,666 posts on Twitter that mentioned him in the last month, 19% of posts were positive in nature, 3% negative and the rest neutral, likely spreading the news

Data gathered using Crimson Hexagon’s ForSight technology

Update (9:52 am): Eastie residents, don’t forget to vote on the casino question: “Suffolk Downs is steaming ahead with its $1 billion casino proposal even though it dropped its original partner, Caesars Entertainment, after state gambling regulators raised concerns about an investor in a Caesars hotel deal.” – WBUR

Update (9:42 am):

Update (9:25 am):

Update (9:17 am): More than 372,000 Bostonians are eligible to vote in today’s mayoral election, according to the Boston Globe. Just 113,222 — or 30.75 percent — turned out for the preliminary election on September 24.

John Connolly and Marty Walsh have voted already, and it will be interesting to hear who, if anyone, Mayor Menino chalks one up for. He declined to endorse either candidate, but that’s not to say he doesn’t necessarily have one in mind.

It’s also important to note that people should avoid sharing photos of their marked ballots over social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter because it’s illegal. According to Massachusetts General Law, anyone who “allows the marking of his ballot to be seen by any person for any purpose not authorized by law… shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than six months or by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.”

Stay tuned to BostInno for live updates from both the Marty Walsh and John Connolly camps, and election news from everywhere in Boston in between.

In the meantime, here’s a rundown of our #BosMayor coverage so far.

You can read more stories on Boston startups, technology and innovation at https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/inno