State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer’s lead over Victor Marx in the Republican gubernatorial primary in Colorado shrunk to just 638 votes as of just after 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to the secretary of state’s office.

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The Weld County Republican’s lead decreased throughout the day and now stands within the state’s mandatory recount threshold.

Automatic recounts are triggered when the vote difference is less than 0.5% of the winner’s total votes. That margin was about 0.33% on Wednesday afternoon.

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“With thousands of ballots still yet to be counted, in counties we feel confidence in, it is very possible a recount won’t be necessary,” Marx spokesperson Roger Hudson wrote in an email. He did not indicate if Marx plans to pay for a recount if it falls outside the threshold.

Kirkmeyer and Marx both have about 40% of the vote. State Representative Scott Bottoms has about 20%. The Associated Press estimated that 85% of votes in the race had been counted. In the results so far, Kirkmeyer won counties in the Denver metro area and northern part of the state, while Marx carried the southern and western areas.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kirkmeyer posted an appeal to volunteers to help cure ballots. If a person has a signature discrepancy with their ballot, for example, they will have an opportunity to fix it so it gets counted. Campaigns in close races often contact those affected voters.

Whoever wins the Republican primary will face Attorney General Phil Weiser in November for the governor’s seat.