Congressman Terry won’t concede, questions vote counting

Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog

In a stunning development GOP Congressman Lee Terry, trailing by some 3,500 votes, refused to concede to Democrat Brad Ashford on Election Night, blaming counting shenanigans at the Douglas County Election Commission and insisting thousands more votes had yet to be counted.

Congressman Lee Terry questions vote counting at the Douglas County Election Commission.

A spokesperson for the Commission denied any significant problems but did say long lines at the polls had severely slowed the counting process. In addition spokesperson Valerie Stoy said 7,000 additional absentee ballots would not be counted until Wednesday followed by an unknown number of provisional ballots.

Adding to the confusion is Republican Election Commissioner Dave Phipps’ earlier prediction that turnout in Douglas County would hit 46 percent, roughly 148,000 voters.

But as of early Wednesday morning a total of 118,000 votes had been counted, leaving nearly 30,000 Douglas County votes missing in action.

Here’s the latest numbers out of both Douglas and Sarpy County:

Ashford (D) Douglas: 59,477 (50%)

Sarpy: 10,868 (40%)

TOTAL: 70,345 (48%)

Terry (R) Douglas: 52,630 (45%)

Sarpy: 15,009 (54%)

TOTAL: 67,639 (46%)

Laird (Lib) Douglas: 6,174 (5%)

Sarpy: 1,742 (6%)

TOTAL: 7,916 (5%

While both sides struggle with the numbers, it was clear Tuesday night that the 8-term incumbent Congressman’s political problems stemmed from his base.

In Douglas County for instance Republicans Pete Ricketts and Ben Sasse picked up far more votes than Congressman Terry. Rickett’s outpolled Terry by 10,000 votes, Sasse 15,000.

It’s believed a good chunk of those voters, refused to cast their ballots for Terry— either staying home or voting for Libertarian Steven Laird.

Stay with Nebraska Watchdog for more results and rhetoric on this highly unusual race.

Updated Wednesday 2:30 a.m.

Contact Joe Jordan at joe@nebraskawatchdog.org.

Joe can be heard on Omaha’s KFAB radio every Monday morning at 7:40, KLIN in Lincoln every Tuesday morning at 7:35 and KHAS-AM in Hastings every Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

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