The race for state treasurer remains too close to call days after Illinois voters went to the polls.

Both Republican Tom Cross and Democrat Mike Frerichs remain hopeful that uncounted absentee and provisional votes break their way.

Cross led Frerichs by 21,000 votes out of 3.4 million cast when The Associated Press stopped tabulating the vote count on Wednesday evening.

Cross spokesman Kevin Artl contends that Frerichs is not getting enough votes still being tallied to make up the difference.

But Frerichs spokesman Dave Clarkin says there are still tens of thousands of votes to be counted from all over the state.

Suburban Cook County officials say at least 24,000 votes have yet to be counted. In Chicago, there are nearly 13,000 uncounted votes. That doesn't include incoming absentee ballots.