A decision in the Republican race for governor in Georgia may not be official until early next week.

A spokesman for the Secretary of State's office said Wednesday morning he could not say for sure how many ballots are left to be counted in the hotly contested Republican runoff between Nathan Deal and Karen Handel.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Deal has a 2,489 vote lead over Georgia's former secretary of state.

Whether that lead will hold could hinge upon the number of outstanding ballots left to be counted.

"I just don't have access to that right now," said Matt Carrothers, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office.

Voters who cast a provisional ballot due to questions of eligibility on Tuesday have until the close of business Thursday to return to their local elections office and clear up any issues.

Members of the military and voters overseas have until Friday to return their ballots.

Once those ballots are official, local elections offices must tabulate their final voting numbers and send their certified results to the Secretary of State's office.

Secretary of State Brian Kemp likely will not deem those results official until sometime next week, and if the margin of votes is within 1 percentage point, the losing candidate has two business days to ask for a recount, Carrothers said.