The final referendum votes from Wagga's polling booths have been added to the official tally, further closing the gap between the two options.

The 1309 formal votes from the Lutheran Primary School polling station were finally recorded on Thursday afternoon and included 662 votes for Yes and 647 for No.

Only 484 votes now separate the two options however the No vote is still in the lead.

The remaining postal and declaration votes would have to be almost entirely made up of Yes votes to swing the referendum.

EARLIER:

The close race in Wagga's mayoral referendum has tightened even further and less than 500 votes now separate the two options.

The No vote, which would see councillors continue to decide the mayor every two years, is still in a slender lead with 17,136 votes, just 50.7 per cent of the total.

The Yes vote, which would result in residents choosing the mayor in an election held every four years, currently holds 16,637 votes or 49.26 per cent.

The gap between the two options narrowed on Thursday when the 3970 online votes, most of which favoured Yes, were added to the official record.

MORE ELECTION COVERAGE:

Exactly 33,773 formal votes have been tallied so far and only the postal, declaration and Lutheran Primary School ballots have not yet been recorded.

It is expected these will bring an additional 2000 votes to the total and determine the final outcome of the mayoral referendum.

If the Yes option ends up on top, Wagga will begin holding a mayoral election alongside the council election from 2024 onwards.

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