The race for Erie County Sheriff was a close one, but it looks like Republican John Garcia will prevail to replace longtime Sheriff Tim Howard.

Garcia has nearly 47% of the vote. Kimberly Beaty is just behind him with nearly 44%.

Since absentee ballots are not yet counted, these totals could change ever so slightly. That’s why Erie County Democratic Committee Jeremy Zellner says this race is too close to call.

He says there were 19,000 absentee ballots requested. As of Election Day, 11,000 of those were turned in.

Beaty trails around 6,000 votes at the moment.