Republican Victor Marx held on to a narrow lead Monday over state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer as county clerks continued to count ballots in Colorado’s gubernatorial primary.

Following an update posted at 3:30 p.m. by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, Marx had 206,477 votes to Kirkmeyer’s 204,527, for a lead of 1,950, or about 0.38% of the 518,490 votes tallied so far. State Rep. Scott Bottoms trailed in the three-way race with 107,486 votes.

At present, the difference between Marx’s and Kirkmeyer’s totals is short of the number that would trigger a mandatory recount under Colorado law.

Although Kirkmeyer jumped out to an early lead on primary election night last Tuesday, Marx overtook her the following afternoon and has since maintained a roughly 2,000-vote lead.

On Monday afternoon, county clerks updated vote totals that hadn’t changed since last Thursday night, before the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, with fewer than 500 additional votes in the Republican governor’s race. After that update, Kirkmeyer closed the gap with Marx by about 70 votes.

The winner of the GOP primary will face Democratic nominee Attorney General Phil Weiser, who scored a decisive win over U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. According to the most recent vote count, Weiser led Bennet by a nearly 14-point margin.

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis is term-limited after this year’s November election.

As of Monday night, the Republican primary for governor was the only major race in Colorado’s primary that hadn’t been called by The Associated Press.

Both Republicans’ campaigns said they’re patiently waiting for election officials to complete the count, which is expected to be completed on Thursday.

An undetermined number of Republican ballots remain to be tallied statewide, with estimates ranging from the low to mid five figures, potentially enough to swing the results or move the race into recount territory.

Voters have until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday to “cure” ballots that were rejected due to signature or ID issues. County clerks are also awaiting the arrival of an unknown number of ballots cast by military and overseas voters, which have to be received by the same deadline and must be postmarked by 7 p.m. June 30.

Buddy Jericho, Marx’s campaign manager, told Colorado Politics that the campaign mobilized supporters to encourage voters to cure any ballots that otherwise won’t count.

“We are optimistic about where the race stands, but we are also respecting the process and not taking anything for granted until the counties complete their work,” Jericho said in a text message.

“The campaign began curing efforts as soon as the lists became available,” he added. “We have had a strong group of volunteers working every day to contact voters, help them understand the process, and make sure every ballot has the opportunity to be counted. That work continued through the Fourth of July week because this race matters, and because every voter deserves to have their voice heard.”

Kirkmeyer’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Colorado elections, an automatic recount is triggered if the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less of the leading candidate’s vote total. Candidates can pay for a recount if the difference exceeds that threshold.

The target number will increase slightly as more votes are counted, but as of Monday night, the difference between Marx and Kirkmeyer would have to be 1,033 or fewer votes to prompt a recount — well below the 1,950 votes that separated them.