Election Day: Updates
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By the Lincoln Journal Star
With an historic race for the White House as a backdrop, Nebraskans went to the polls Tuesday in big numbers, casting ballots for their candidates and the future of their state and country.
Race roundup: President | Regent | Fortenberry | A. Smith | Statehouse | Affirmative Action | Senate
Officials expected nearly three-fourths of Nebraska's registered voters to cast votes when all was said and done. In Lancaster County, nearly 70 percent of registered voters went to the polls.
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Check out general election returns from around the country with this interactive map.
Election 2008 Central
Full coverage of Election Day
On the national stage, it was an atypical election year for a unique state. Nebraska’s uncommon district-by-district allocation of Electoral College votes turned the 2nd Congressional District — metropolitan Omaha — into a presidential battleground for the first time. Democrat Barack Obama, in his bid to become the nation's first African-American president, made a serious play this fall to wrest away the district's traditionally GOP electoral vote from Republican John McCain. Late Tuesday, the district's electoral fate was still unclear.
In the first district's Congressional race, two-term incumbent Rep. Jeff Fortenberry rolled over Democrat Max Yashirin. Yashirin is a 26-year-old Iraq war veteran who made his first venture into state politics in the race for Congress.
Nebraskans also expected to tap a new U.S. Senator to replace retiring GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel. Former Bush agriculture secretary, Nebraska governor and Lincoln mayor Mike Johanns defeated Democrat Scott Kleeb, a Yale-educated ranch hand who teaches at Hastings College, to keep the seat in Republican hands.
One of the most contentious issues voters considered Tuesday was a ballot measure banning public agencies from using affirmative action. The measure would bar the state from considering race or gender in any spending or decisions, including college admissions. The initiative appeared on its way toward passage.
A local seat on the Nebraska University Board of Regents, which supervises the general operations of the university system and the control and direction of all expenditures, also was in play. In a battle of two Lincoln attorneys, Tim Clare was leading Earl Scudder at the end of a high-spending battle to replace outgoing Regent Charles Wilson.
Also up for grabs were 26 seats in the Nebraska Legislature, 15 that were filled by state senators who were being term-limited from their seats. State senators may serve just two consecutive four-year terms. Those races included:
* District 1: Lavon Heidemann was defeating Jerry Joy. The two were competing for this seat that encompasses Richardson, Otoe, Pawnee and Nemaha counties.
* District 21: Ken Haar was leading James Arthur Jeffers in the district that covers parts of Lancaster and Saunders counties.
* District 25: Kathy Campbell was leading Travis Wagner in the eastern Lancaster County district.
* District 27: Lincoln City Councilman Dan Marvin was narrowly leading Colby Coash percent in the southwest Lincoln district.
* District 29: Tony Fulton was leading Susan Scott in the east Lincoln district.
Stay with JournalStar.com's Election 2008 Central for news and video updates in key races throughout the evening.
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