Kansas governor race too tight to call

By the numbers: Democrat Cindy Holscher had 50.3% of the vote and Republican Ty Masterson had 49.7% as of 6am Wednesday, with 98% of the vote counted.

State of play: In Leavenworth County, only 79% of the votes had been counted after election officials reported a ballot shortage Tuesday morning and voters were told to come back later.

Reality check: Even when all the votes are counted, candidates or voters can still request a recount — although the margin must be within 0.5% for the state to foot the bill.

What they're saying: "What I'm afraid is we're gonna have lawyers involved in this thing," Masterson said in Wichita on Tuesday night, per the Kansas Reflector.

• "We are confident that once all the votes are counted, we will win," Holscher said at her election event in Johnson County.

Context: Elected Kansas governors have been evenly split between Republicans and Democrats for decades, with five from each party dating back to the mid-1970s.

The bottom line: Kansas' next governor could come down to a few thousand votes.