Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska gained ground in the state’s uncalled Senate race on Wednesday, as the latest results narrowed Democrat Mary Peltola’s lead to 3,975 votes, down from 4,250 on Tuesday, Alaska Public Media reported.

Wednesday’s release added 5,612 ballots, roughly 5,000 of them absentee ballots from state House districts covering the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a Republican stronghold, according to Division of Elections data cited by Alaska Public Media. Peltola’s lead is now smaller than the 4,100 votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. of Petersburg, a separate candidate on the ballot.

Also on Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews rejected the Peltola campaign’s request for records identifying rejected absentee ballots, siding with the Alaska Division of Elections. “Even if the request were otherwise considered reasonable outside the peak election time of year, it is simply not reasonable nor required right now,” Matthews wrote, according to Fox News. The Sullivan campaign was allowed to intervene in the case.

“We thank the Division of Elections for their hard work and look forward to a complete and accurate count,” said Nate Adams, a spokesman for the Sullivan campaign. Ballots sent from overseas may arrive through Nov. 18, which is also the scheduled day for ranked-choice tabulation in races where no candidate received more than 50% of the vote. The Associated Press has not called the race.