The turnout in the Hove by-election was better than expected at 34.24 per cent.
The consensus among the parties was that it was likely to be about 20 per cent.
The by-election, in Wish ward, is for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council.
The returning officer, Geoff Raw, said that a total of 2,600 turned out to vote out of an electorate of 7,593.
Of those, 717 voted by post and 1,883 cast their ballot at a polling station.
The count is under way in the chamber at Hove Town Hall.
Among those watching the count is the Labour MP for Hove Peter Kyle.
The seat became vacant on the death of long-serving Conservative councillor Garry Peltzer Dunn.
The candidates are Peter Revell (Conservative), Bella Sankey (Labour), Ollie Sykes (Green), Stewart Stone (Liberal Democrat) and Patricia Mountain (UK Independence Party).
I think the postals lifted the turn-out from the on-foot 20%.