Aaron Sanderford Profile picture
🔥🥩 Grilling more than politicians | 💼 Politics @NE_Examiner | 📜 Past: KMTV, OWH, LJS | 🎓 Education: WKU, UK, UNL | Roots: 🇺🇸🇵🇷 | 🥎🎭

May 11, 2022, 44 tweets

Our @NE_Examiner team will have you covered tonight if you care about #Nebraska’s 2022 primary election.

@PaulHammelNE is headed to @CWHerbster’s shindig in Lincoln.

@cgonzalez_NE is headed to @votelindstrom’s party in Omaha.

I’m in Link and covering @jim_pillen’s deal here.

If you’re new to following me, a word of warning, it might get busy with tweets tonight. I will try to live tweet what’s going on with results.

It can be a lot.

A little schedule primer for people reading election results. #Nebraska's most populous counties -- Douglas (Omaha), Sarpy (suburbs) and Lancaster (Lincoln) -- are going to be leading with early voting ballots returned by yesterday with the first results at 8p.

Douglas and Sarpy Counties, the Omaha area and its largest suburbs, will release results from in-person voting from 8a-2p Tuesday at 8:45p. Lancaster County, the Lincoln area, will release 8a-2p results at 9:15p.

The State of Nebraska, through the Secretary of State's website, will start releasing results as they come in from all 93 counties shortly after 8p. They will refresh those numbers every five minutes until they're done counting.

Settle in for what could be a long night.

A quick update: State elections office says don't freak out if the first results show up online at 8:01p. They're trying to make sure they don't go up early.

Expecting to hear soon from Republican State Sen. Mike Flood at Pillen's party. He expects to win the GOP nomination in Nebraska's 1st Congressional District. Also on the ballot but not running is former U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who resigned after being convicted of felonies.

First round of early ballot results from Douglas and Lancaster Counties (Omaha and Lincoln) favor State Sen. Brett Lindstrom. He's leading in both counts, ahead of Jim Pillen in second place and Herbster in third. The urban counties were not expected to be Herbster's strength.

Douglas Co. 8p results, early ballots returned by yesterday

Lancaster Co. 8p results for gov, early ballots returned by yesterday.

Before anybody jumps too far to conclusions, understand that Herbster and Trump leaned into questions about voting by mail. Their folks are more likely to be in-person voters. Pillen's voters are more a mix. One of the race's big questions is who finishes second in Omaha and Link

Secretary of State numbers in Douglas County from early votes turned in by yesterday.

Here are Secretary of State numbers from the 8p release in Lancaster County (Lincoln). This is the early vote returned by yesterday.

Still no results I’ve seen from Sarpy County. Anybody seeing any?

In the #NE02 House race, @TonyVargas has a big lead over @AlishaKShelton in Douglas County’s 8p early vote, which is early ballots returned by yesterday.

On the @NebraskaDems side of the #NEgov race it’s very clearly @Blood4G’s primary race. From the Secretary of State’s Office.

And @Flood4Nebraska is speaking, claiming victory. He’s not looking in much jeopardy from the ghost of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry.

Flood: This is a race we need to save America.

Next round of Douglas County results show a sharp rebound from Election Day voting by Herbster. Lindstrom still leading significantly.

That Douglas County result was the 8:45p. It’s the Election Day voting from 8a-2p.

In the Dems’ House race in #NE02, it’s looking like @TonyVargas has a significant edge, 2-to-1, against @AlishaKShelton. 8:45p Douglas County results, including 8a-2p on Election Day.

In the @NEGOP governor’s race, it’s looking like Herbster is inching back toward Pillen. Lindstrom still leads. But these results are skewed heavily toward urban Douglas County.

Suburban Sarpy County’s first big batch of results hit and it’s interesting. Lindstrom narrowly leads Herbster, with Pillen not far back in third.

Here’s an interesting update statewide in the Secretary of State’s race. The split between Borer and Schroder likely benefits Evnen.

Next big tally we're expecting is the 9:15p from Lancaster County, which will be the Lincoln area's 8a-2p in-person votes on Election Day.

Lancaster County’s 9:15p results just came in. Big number for Lindstrom and Pillen. Rough number for Herbster.

Tightening race in #NEgov. State results.

The next big batch to come, along with a bunch of reporting from smaller counties, is the 9:45p result from Douglas County (Omaha). That is likely to include the first wave of results from 2p-8p of in-person voting. Douglas Co. doesn't open early votes returned today till Friday.

These results are still a little skewed without suburban Sarpy County reporting more than a low number of votes. That county is home to one of the largest pockets of GOP primary voters who show up on Election Day.

And @jim_pillen has just taken the lead statewide in #Negov.

Results still a little skewed by Sarpy lag.

Another update showing Pillen’s lead growing over Lindstrom. Herbster moving up slightly, too.

Here’s the 9:45p result from Douglas County, the Omaha area. This is results from the second half of Election Day, from 2p-8p. Brian Kruse in the county election office says they expect a 10:45p and 11:45p release yet.

Kruse says the 10:45p release might be significant.

Herbster just took the lead in suburban Sarpy County. Those counts still look pretty low.

#Nebraska @GovRicketts says he knows @jim_pillen will be the 41st governor of the State of Nebraska. Says it could be a long night, but it’s looking good for Pillen.

Next big dump is Lancaster County (Lincoln) at 10:15p. That’s first wave of results from second half of Election Day.

Updated statewide results show Herb edging Lindstrom for now. Big pocket of results from Link and Omaha still incoming, and that’s Lind territory.

The 10:15p numbers from Lancaster County show Herbster inching closer to the top two, Lindstrom and Pillen, and Pillen getting really close to overtaking Lindstrom in Lancaster.

We are by no means calling the race yet. But the fundamentals right now look good for Pillen.

An expert I know is watching the number of counties with significant population reporting no votes, including Scotts Bluff, Cass, Washington and Red Willow, to name a handful. That's a lot of places where votes might live. Looks like Pillen wins, but race could get tighter.

Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse now updates that they are going to skip the 10:45p release and do a final unofficial count at 11:45p.

One thing in Pillen's favor: His home Platte County has yet to report any votes to the Nebraska Secretary of State's Office.

Latest result statewide.

Sarpy final unofficial results, Lindstrom narrowly over Herbster, with Pillen competitive.

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