Illinois' next state treasurer won the Nov. 4 election by 9,225 votes - the third-closest statewide race since at least 1900.

Democrat Michael Frerichs (FRAYR'-ikz) beat Republican Tom Cross 48 percent to 47.8 percent out of 3.5 million votes cast. Records collected and analyzed by The Associated Press show that the 0.261 percentage-point difference ranks it behind only the 198-2 race for governor and 1952 campaign for secretary of state.

The Illinois State Board of Elections formally declared Frerichs the winner at a special meeting Sunday. Cross - the former House minority leader from Oswego (ahss-WEE'-goh) led by 20,000 votes on Election Day. But the state senator from Champaign ate into that lead because of late-arriving ballots that were mailed or cast provisionally and counted later.