Sheriff race comes down to the wire

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - It's Election Day in western New York, and News 4 is following a very contentious Erie County Sheriff's Race.

The two sheriff candidates are throwing haymakers at eachother right down to the wire, and we'll find out Tuesday night who's punches actually connected with the voters.

Democratic challenger John Glascott, a Cheektowaga Police Captain, cast his vote on his home turf Tuesday morning. He has been playing up his 30 years in law enforcement.

Incumbent republican Tim Howard has been digging in his heels, challenging some of Glascott's charges that the operations at the Holding Center and the Alden Correctional Facility need a top to bottom house cleaning, starting at the top.

A couple of high-profile escapes, including Ralph Bucky Phillips and lawsuits filed by state and federal officials have given Glascott some traction.

Sheriff Howard feels confident voters will recognize some of those issues were beyond his control.

Glascott said, "We've had lawsuits, the federal governments suing us, that state governments suing us, we've had a lot of issues. There absolutely, in my opinion, needs to be a new set of eyes on the Sheriff's Department. We need to turn the place around."

Howard said, "I'm quite confident that the voters are going to recognize the problems we had at the jail had to do with the lack of resources, it's a problem thats behind us."