Election 2022: Latest Douglas County vote count puts filibuster in hands of Dems — but it’s not over yet

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The latest updated ballot counts for Douglas County pulled close races even closer and look to have tipped the filibuster Democratic in the Unicameral — for now.

Results posted after noon Friday showed Aaron Hanson leading Greg Gonzalez for Douglas County Sheriff; and John Frederickson leading Stu Dornan for Nebraska’s 20th Legislative District representative.

Republicans are hoping Dornan wins to get a supermajority — 33 votes — in the Nebraska Legislature in order to withstand any filibusters. He was leading on Wednesday, but recent counts flipped the result.

Nebraska Legislature Dist. 20

• Stu Dornan: 7,973
• John A. Frederickson: 8,042

While the Legislature is nonpartisan, Nebraskans always know who belongs to which party, and the Democratic minority was able to block an abortion trigger law this spring.

There are still 2,800 provisional ballots to be considered, but as it stands now, this Dist. 20 race — replacing State Sen. John McCollister — would trigger an automatic recount. Any race that puts the winner ahead by 1% of votes or less requires a recount, according to Nebraska election rules.

Douglas County Sheriff’s race

• Aaron Hanson: 92,824
• Greg Gonzalez: 91,162

Not all of Nebraska’s 2,800 provisional ballots will necessarily count toward the very contentious sheriff’s race.

The county’s latest update posted at 12:17 p.m. Friday, showed Gonzalez tightening the gap to about 1,600 votes. The results posted early Wednesday morning had Hanson leading Gonzalez 88,353 to 84,679, a difference of more than 3,600 votes.

Douglas County will finalize its votes on Wednesday, Nov. 23 — the day before Thanksgiving. Nebraska officials are scheduled to meet Dec. 5 to certify the state’s election results.

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Managing Editor Kevin Westhues and Digital Director Gina Dvorak contributed to this report.

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