Clerks in 55 of the state’s 72 counties were accepting applications and, in several cases, waiving the five-day waiting period and immediately offering licenses to same-sex couples.

Four more planned to start offering licenses by Thursday morning, which would leave 13 not issuing the licenses. Many of those said they need guidance from the state.

At least 546 license applications have been issued to same-sex couples.

After a marriage license is completed, it is submitted to state and county officials for filing.

The state Vital Records Office had been holding licenses it received but was not processing them, Smiley said.

“We were sort of in a holding pattern yesterday, not sure how to proceed,” Smiley said. “After conferring with attorneys we decided that we should fulfill the administrative functions of the office.”

Walker has said little publicly about the issue. His spokeswoman, Jocelyn Webster, on Wednesday declined to say whether the governor had given attention to the records office handling of gay marriage licenses.