Topeka ? The outcome of a tight attorney general’s race remains in doubt even though scores of county election officials counted all-important provisional ballots.

Republican Phill Kline and Democrat Chris Biggs won’t know until early next week which one of them can claim the office. Kline holds a narrow lead.

With 76 of the state’s 105 counties reporting results to the secretary of state’s office by 5 p.m. Friday, Kline’s lead appeared to have increased by 473 votes.

Normally, these ballot attract scant attention, but they are the key to victory, because Kline and Biggs wound up just 3,010 votes apart on election night, with some 15,000 provisional ballots cast.

Not every county had results on Friday. Johnson County, with some 3,300 provisional ballots ? the largest number in the state ? won’t have results until Monday. Sedgwick County, with some 1,600 ballots, wasn’t expected to have results until Tuesday.

Before the start of Friday’s counting, the unofficial tally showed Kline with 406,353 votes, or 50.2 percent, and Biggs with 403,343, or 49.8 percent. The spread was 0.4 percent, one of the narrowest statewide margins in recent history.

In the 76 counties, Kline picked up another 2,730 votes, compared to 2,257 for Biggs. When added to the previous votes, the spread remained 0.4 percent.

In Wyandotte County, members of the Wyandotte County-Kansas City Unified Government Commission and election workers gathered in a small room of the courthouse annex to count the ballots. Democratic and Republican observers watched but each side said no problems were seen.

Pat Rahija, elections commissioner in Wyandotte County, said normally the ballots go unnoticed. But the closeness of the Kline-Biggs race changed that.

“In a close election, the provisional ballots can be the difference in the outcome,” Rahija said.

Like other counties, each provisional ballot in Wyandotte County was sealed in an envelope with voter information, such as name and address, on the outside.

Election officials first verified the person was a legal voter. If so, the ballot then was removed and counted and added to the Tuesday total.

Wyandotte County voters cast 1,120 provisional ballots, of which 896 were counted on Friday. Biggs picked up another 628 votes, for a total of 22,532 in the county. Kline gained 214 votes for 11,560. Not every provisional ballot contained a vote for attorney general.

Once each county certifies its results, its numbers are sent to the secretary of state’s office. The State Board of Canvassers ? the lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state ? plans to meet Nov. 29 to make the results official.

Once the final results are tallied, there’s a possibility of a statewide recount if the margin remains as narrow as it has been.

The two candidates waged an acrimonious campaign, trading accusations over experience and ideology, and arguing about who’s best qualified to replace retiring Attorney General Carla Stovall.

Kline, 42, of Shawnee, was a legislator for eight years and led efforts for large tax cuts and conservative social policy. He ran unsuccessfully for the 3rd Congressional District seat two years ago.

Biggs, 43, of Junction City, has been Geary County prosecutor since 1988.