Ernie Coleman will serve another four years as Beaufort County Sheriff following Tuesday’s election.

In the final estimation on Election Night, the three candidates for Beaufort County Sheriff ended Election night with the following totals: 9,360 for incumbent Republican Ernie Coleman, 6,702 for Democrat Al Whitney and 2,818 for Constitution Party Candidate Tony Keech Jr., according to unofficial vote totals.

During one-stop voting, Coleman and Whitney were within 500 votes of one another, with Coleman amassing 4,730 and Whitney bringing in 4,284. Keech earned 1,443 votes during the same period.

“I’m happy to continue on with the programs I’ve started,” Coleman said. “It’s taken four years to get it where I want it. All my divisions are full.”

Moving forward, Coleman said that improving school safety is his biggest goal.

“Since the school shootings started nationwide, we’ve added six more positions for SROs,” Coleman said. “We’ve got a plan on that and should hopefully sometime by the summer have the schools full with SROs.”

Coleman said that with 58 years behind him, 40 of which have been in public service, he is ready to go for a second term.

“I feel healthier than I ever have and I still feel enthusiastic about doing this job,” Coleman said. “If one day that goes away, I won’t run. What I’ll do in four years, I don’t know right now. Right now, I’m going to enjoy the victory and then tomorrow’s a work day.”

Coleman added that he had teams going out into the county tomorrow to begin picking up campaign signs.