SIDNEY - The polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Then the work began.

Three hours later, the ballots were still being scanned and recorded.

UPDATE: With all precincts counted, voters have chosen Jordan B. Hajek as the next Cheyenne County Assessor. Hajek got her name on the ballot by petition. She defeated Mel Keller 2,260 votes to Keller's 1,017.

County Commissioner Phil Sanders, District 3, went against write-in candidate James Popovich. Sanders retains his seat by a margin of 625 votes for Sanders and 324 for Popovich.

The Sidney voters finished the night with Paul Strommen collecting 1,136 votes, Brandon Bondegard 971, Brad Sherman 891 and Marva P. Ellwanger 811. Voters cast 488 votes for Tony Jones. However, Jones removed himself from the race prior to election night, but after the deadline to have his name taken off the ballot.

The Cheyenne County Courthouse kept its lights on late Tuesday with volunteer election judges and the County Clerk’s Office staff processing ballots. Ballots are reviewed by hand, and scanned. Any ballot that cannot be scanned, for example a crease or wrinkle in the paper, is reviewed by judges.

Members of the press were invited to the process on the condition of no interaction with the judges or staff.

Ballots are scanned by what could be compared to a flatbed scanner with each page recorded in seconds.

Cheyenne County has 10 precincts and Absentee ballots; five were held at the Cheyenne County Fairgrounds. 

As of 10 p.m., local races had Third District County Commissioner Phil Sanders with 145 votes and 75 votes recorded for write-in candidate James Popovich as of 11:19 p.m. Tuesday. The other county contested race had Assessor Mel Keller against Jordan B. Hajek, who was on the ballot by petition. Early count had Hajek with 543 votes and Keller with 270. 

The early count also had Paul Strommen in the lead for a four-year seat on the Sidney City Council with 322 votes, followed by Brandon Bondegard with 263, Marva P. Ellwanger with 253 and Brad Sherman 224 votes. Tony Jones had 148 votes. However, he announced before the election, and after the deadline, he was removing himself from the race. 

Roger M. Gallaway had earned 368 votes in his uncontested race for the council's two-year seat, and Ron Meyer  earned 405 votes to remain on the Sidney Airport Authority Board. Early results also show voters favoring extension of the Local Option Sales & Use Tax by 318 to 215. By the end of the count, Gallaway had 1,349 votes, Ron Meyer had 1,349 votes to remain on the Sidney Airport Authority Board, and 1,090 voters supported renewing the Local Option Sales & Use Tax while 81 voters were against it.

Sidney voters were also asked to cast their votes for Sidney School Board positions. Incumbents Michael J. Palmer and Brenda Smith, and challenger Rusty Gulbranson were on the ballot. Voters were asked to select three.

Early results also showed support of unopposed county candidates Republican County Attorney Paul Schaub (573), Republican County Clerk Beth Fiegenschuh (673), Republican District Court Clerk Mindy Wiegand (647), Republican Sheriff Adam E. Frerichs (735), Democrat County Treasurer Shelley Bowlin (548) and Republican District 2 County Commissioner Darrell J. Johnson (151).

The early count also puts Republican gubernatorial candidates Jim Pillen and Joe Kelly in the lead 600 votes to Democratic candidates Carol Blood and running mate Al Davis 185 votes, and the 40 votes for Libertarian candidates Scott Zimmerman and Jason Blumenthal.

The early count also favors Elizabeth Tegtmeier over Robin Stevens by 433 to 200. By the end of the night, Tegtmeier had 1,752 votes to Stevens' 811.

The early results also followed the state trend, keeping Republican Rep. Adrian Smith in office.

Write-in votes had not been posted as of 11 p.m. Tuesday.