It appeared Wednesday that the race for chairman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners would be determined by the Aug. 5 runoff.

Although incumbent Charles Bannister got more votes, Lorraine Green -- who left her District 1 seat for the chance to defeat him -- seemed to have won enough to challenge him a second time. With more than 99 percent of the votes counted, Bannister had just less than the 50 percent of the vote needed to avoid a runoff. Green had about 40 percent.

Political newcomer Glenn Pirkle got a surprising number of votes -- 10 percent of the totals -- for a man who never held political office before and ran on two issues: getting rid of the storm-water fee and streamlining county government.

By the start of business on Wednesday, Gwinnett elections officials were no closer to updating the numbers they had posted on the county Web site shortly after 1 a.m.

Staffers are still sorting through provisional ballots, said Lynn Hart, assistant elections office director. Those ballots are cast by voters who hadn't brought enough identification.

First, they must verify the voter was in fact eligible to vote, Hart said, and then tally up whatever votes they determine can be added to the results.

Official results, she said, won't be issued until late Friday afternoon, when the elections board meets to certify the election.

Bannister, who was at the Gwinnett Place Marriott with supporters late Tuesday, acknowledged the race was closer than he would like.

Green, who was at Diggers sports bar in Lawrenceville, said she was pleased with the closeness of the race.

"We expected a runoff from the word go," she said. "And I think it speaks volumes when you can force an incumbent into a runoff -- especially when you've been outspent 4-to-1. What's important to remember is that more citizens said they wanted change tonight than the status quo -- and that's what we're all about."

In terms of money and endorsements, it was mostly a two-way race between Bannister and Green -- he lined up powerful statewide backers, raised three times as much cash and spent four times as much as she did. But Green got vocal support from Sheriff Butch Conway, who criticized Bannister for being out of the loop on law enforcement and not fighting hard enough to give the department the money it needed.

It was a bitter campaign that left the once-collegial commissioners visibly at odds.

A big chunk of Bannister's money was used to wage a contentious postal war against Green over truthfulness and fitness to serve.

With such headlines as, "Can your family afford Lorraine Green?" and charges that she was "too selfish for public service," Bannister's mailers accused Green of voting to double her pay and opposing tax cuts for homeowners. Green rebutted the claims on her Web site and eventually sent out a mailer including a copy of a letter Bannister wrote to state legislators in 2005, asking them to increase salaries for the entire commission. It's labeled, "The Letter Bannister Never Wanted You to See."

One of the last mailers of the campaign, labeled an "official Gwinnett conservative Republican voter guide," prompted the county solicitor's office to say it was looking into charges of illegality -- though it didn't expect a resolution before the election.

The postal warfare generated heavy traffic on local Web sites, as well as complaints that the dueling charges weren't helpful in figuring out where candidates stood on the issues.

At least one voter said the negativity turned him away from both front-runners.

"I was tired of the mudslinging," said retiree Ed Hightower of Lilburn.

He cast his vote for Glenn Pirkle.

Both candidates called illegal immigration one of the biggest issues facing the county and spent much of the campaign arguing over who was first to support the federal enforcement program known as 287(g). It trains local law enforcement officials to flag immigrants who are admitted to jail for other offenses and who may be here illegally, and fast-track them for deportation. They also proposed reducing property taxes with a penny sales tax -- in different ways. Bannister supports a Local Option Sales Tax, or LOST, which he said rolls back the millage rate and is popular around the state. Green said a Homestead Option Sales Tax, or HOST, would be better for Gwinnett -- despite its challenges in DeKalb and Rockdale counties.

While some voters wanted to keep things as they are -- like Scott Patton of Lilburn, who said he "just didn't see a need for a change" -- enough voters didn't to push the contest into a runoff.

Real estate investor Paul Buck of Duluth said he voted for Green because of what he called the "visibility thing" -- she's the person he's seen around at various events.

"I can't say that I know very much about Bannister at all," he added, "except that he's been chairman."

Historically, Gwinnett has been a solidly Republican county, and typically whoever wins the GOP primary goes on to win the general election. Democrat Vincent Passariello faces the winner in November.

-- Staff writers Eunice Lee and Rachel Pomerance contributed to this article.