MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A South Dakota sheriff-elect is speaking out after the man he ran against fired him as a sheriff’s deputy right after the polls closed.

Mark Maggs got 73-percent of the vote in Tuesday’s election. One minute after the polls closed, he got a termination letter from the current sheriff.

Maggs says his firing did not come as a shock to him, but since he won’t take over as Sheriff until January, the father of four is currently unemployed.

“I always knew it was a possibility. He had made mention of it during a conversation that we had when I went to him and told him I took out a petition, that I would be running against him,” Maggs said. “And the moment that I got the text message that said, you know, ‘mandatory meeting 7 o’clock,’ I thought the polls are closed and now no one will be able to change their minds because of it. I knew it was coming.”

Maggs says his family will be at risk in the time before he takes office.

“It was one of those things, it was really hard on my wife, you know,” he said. “When I first told her, the first thought was our kids are going to be uninsured, and she was very emotional and upset and crying.”

Maggs posted his termination letter to social media to let his family know what happened. It went viral.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports the sheriff’s office has been flooded with phone calls, many calling 911 to voice their opinion.

The current sheriff did not respond to requests to comment.