Nebraska election officials continue counting early and provisional ballots

Ballots from Tuesday’s primary election in Nebraska continue to be counted across the state, with the outcome of some close races hanging in the balance.

Around 8,700 ballots were counted by the Douglas County Election Commission Friday morning.

That number includes early voting ballots that were delivered to the election office on election day.

The new count has widened the gap between Ashley Spivey and Tracy Hightower-Henne, legislative candidates in Northeast Omaha’s District 13.

Spivey previously had a lead of five votes over Hightower-Henne, but after Friday’s update, Spivey grew the margin to 36 votes, enough to secure a top-two spot in the primary.

In Nebraska's nonpartisan legislative races, the two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party.

Hightower-Henne conceded the race Friday through a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, while Spivey will face Nick Batter in November.

Friday’s new vote totals also brought Sen. Terrell McKinney ahead of Ernie Chambers in the District 11 race by 3 votes, though both candidates had already secured their advancement to the general election.

Valerie Stoj with the Douglas County Election Commission said more than 400 provisional ballots remain to be counted county-wide, including 10 dealing with voter ID.

“Now with voter ID, there's another category of provisionals, and that's for people who don't have their ID to show or can't obtain one,” she said.

Stoj said voters with ID-related provisional ballots have until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21 to come to the Douglas County Election Office to certify their identity.

In Lancaster County, 387 provisional ballots will be counted Wednesday, May 22, with 14 of those requiring voter identification verification.