Vote count slow in Ill. gov's race

CHICAGO, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Thousands of ballots remain uncounted in the Illinois governor's race with incumbent Democrat Pat Quinn's narrow lead growing Thursday, results showed.

Quinn, who succeeded impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was ahead by more than 19,000 votes Thursday but Republican challenger state Sen. Bill Brady refused to concede.

A Chicago Tribune survey showed thousands of military and absentee ballots remain uncounted and WLS-TV, Chicago, said it could be Dec. 3 before the election results are finalized in the official canvass. While Brady publicly clung to hope the Tribune said its survey of election officials indicated it was unlikely Brady would find enough uncounted ballots to pull out a victory.

The Illinois State Board of Elections has given counties until Nov. 16 to count ballots mailed from overseas, Illinois Statehouse News said.

Quinn's margin grew steadily Wednesday from 8,000 in the early morning to more than 16,000 in the afternoon in the closest gubernatorial election in Illinois in nearly 30 years. The candidates were still less than 1 percentage point apart.

"The ballots left to be counted appear mostly to come from Cook County, where the governor held a large margin over Senator Brady," Quinn campaign spokeswoman Mica Matsoff said in a statement. "We expect to hold our lead and increase it. We do not see a path to victory for Bill Brady."