New York Today: Checking it Twice

Robert Caplin for The New York Times Election workers will inspect voting machines today to tallly the official numbers.

For William C. Thompson Jr., it’s all over but the counting.

But the counting counts.

And so, across the city today, election workers will crack the seals on 5,059 voting machines.

They will compare the vote totals recorded there to the figures written down on the night of the mayoral primary.

Mr. Thompson is hoping that when the dust settles, Bill de Blasio, who currently has 40.3 percent of the votes tallied in the Democratic primary, falls below 40 percent.

That would force a runoff â€" unless Mr. Thompson concedes, as party leaders, seeking unity, are pressing him to do.

On Monday, the reckoning continues with the tallying of paper ballots.

The board said Thursday night that there were nearly 80,000 of those.

The odds strongly favor Mr. de Blasio.

But Mr. Thompson hopes to pick up votes wherever he can, and on the machine count, there are often discrepancies.

“There’s room for error,” said Valerie Vasquez, a spokeswoman for the city’s Board of Elections. “You’re talking about poll workers who have been working Election Day for some 16-odd hours.”

Here’s what else you need to know for Friday the 13th and the weekend:

WEATHER

Scattered showers over the area should pass by mid-morning â€" take a disposable umbrella.

After that, look out. It will be very pleasant, with sunny skies and a high of 76.

The sun will remain, except at night, through Wednesday, with highs staying in the 70s.

TRANSIT & TRAFFIC

- Mass Transit: Fine so far. Click for latest M.T.A. status.

- Roads: No major delays. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect today but suspended Saturday for Yom Kippur. (Yes there are streets that have alternate-side rules on Saturday, mostly commercial strips.)

COMING UP TODAY

- Joseph J. Lhota, the Republican mayoral candidate, goes to Staten Island to watch ”The Goonies” â€" and shake some hands â€" at 6 p.m. at Bloomingdale Park. [Free movie and handshake]

- If you see bloody people and emergency workers in haz-mat suits outside the Barclays Center tonight, don’t panic. It’s a disaster drill, with the Fire Department and Marines, from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

- Tickets go on sale at noon for the rapper Earl Sweatshirt’s Oct. 7 show at the Bowery Ballroom. (You may remember a profile of him in The New Yorker).

- Enjoy free live music at the American Folk Art Museum, starting at 5:30 p.m., in Lincoln Center.

- An exhibition, “A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk,” opens at the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

- The former good-guy pro wrestler Bruno Sammartino (your childhood hero, perhaps) donates a replica of his championship belt to the Italian American Museum and speaks out against bullying.

- Lit Crawl â€" like a weekend-long pub crawl, but with authors â€" kicks off with events across the East Village and the Lower East Side.

- Hiroki Kuroda takes to the mound at 7 p.m. as the Yankees look to stay in the wild card hunt against the Red Sox.

Joseph Burgess and Nicole Higgins DeSmet contributed reporting.

New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till about noon.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, e-mail us at nytoday@nytimes.com or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Find us on weekdays at nytimes.com/nytoday.