Is it 35 votes separating Lynda Avanzato and Augustine Manocchia, or is it 135 (as the chart shows)?

It's 135 between Avanzato and Manocchia. Just checked Secretary of State website to be sure:
http://www.ri.gov/election/results/2012/general_election/north_kingstown/

I see Dick Welch has already taken a shot across the bow with his comments about incumbents being re-elected. I hope this is not a sign of how he will be working with others.

And I hope it IS. Those people get reelected not by voters who pay attention, but to those who dont have a clue whats going on, which is most voters, and those voters rely on name recognition only. If they HAD a clue, then you'd see the three independents who ran together, get close votes. But they didnt. This town got a crap council, again, and its their own fault.

Does anyone know when the mail-in/absentee ballots will be posted online?

No

Samantha: I see the Patch laptop in the photo from Sonoma (the GOP meeting place) above. Were you also at the Dem meeting place last night?????

I see your point. If there had been a photo opportunity at the other locations, I would have done that. Unfortunately, there wasn't.
The reason my laptop is in the shot is because I was at Sonoma when the results came in and started to update the info to the site. Since I try to be a nice person, I offered up my laptop to anyone who wanted to look at the results. A photo opportunity with the two top vote-getters arose and I took it.

Hey MeanE
Couldn't agree with you more. I find it hard to beleive that after all that Liz and company did to this town that she is back again!! How much more damage are they going to do before voters catch on!

compass carrier nneeds to lighten up

MeanE - correct. Samantha may be young and gaining experience in journalism and life as all young people do, but I highly doubt she is in the bag with Dolan and the NKGOP! There was a time when the NKDEMS had it together, were running the council and making real positive change such as reopening Fire Station 5, removing Halley and his broken admin, re-configuring K-5 schools, enacting a whistleblower act, and changing the town in NK. Then the drunkards and self-interested losers took over the party, and it fell apart. Meanwhile the NKGOP, not without its own despicable low-rent people, kept it more or less together and mailed out the shiny brochures etc to reel in the voters who pay no attention to the local papers or Patch or the issues, etc and dont pay the least attention to the community. The NKDEMS had a GOLDEN opportunity to capitalize on their positive record when in power, and like a crackhead lottery winner, blew it all on short term thinking within the party and destroyed themselves. Since the NKGOP is again the king of the hill, we can only hope the right side wins their own civil war they have going on. There is enough blame for NK's woes to go around, BUT NOT ME. And dont be tempted to blame Patch, they play a straight story. I just wish they would cover the more controversial policy stuff, investigate a little, real journo!

The Democrats went to Duffy's Tavern, The Independent's went to the Oak Hill Tavern, and The Republicans celebrated at Dan Kinder's house.

A few of observations. With 14 candidates on the ballot, we have a top vote getter receiving ONLY 9.6% of the votes. I believe that this is the lowest percentage of any town in RI. I am struggling to come to grips on whether having so many residents interested in becoming a TC member is a good thing, or if it just muddies the water and changes the complexion of elections. In addition, I also wonder if TC & SC representatives should be voted on via districts within NK. I understand that NK may not be as large as other communities that vote this way, but I am not sure that some areas are receiving proper representation. Where do these 5 members live? Do they have the ENTIRE town's interests in mind or could they be skewed by their economic standing and physical address within NK? Many talked about improving the North End during their campaigns, but how many actually live in the North End? IMO the local media, including the Patch, did a good job of independently reporting on the candidates prior to the elections. Unlike the National media outlwts, who always have agendas. Unfortunately, by the results of the election, I don't feel that enough people paid attention to all of the info that was out there. I am looking forward to seeing how the new faces impact the issues in NK. Just post-election thoughts.

Four more years of Avanzato!