Republican Bill Brady and Democrat Pat Quinn are still in the race for Illinois State Governor because the votes are too close to call.

After 99 percent of precincts reported, Quinn has 46.5 percent of the vote while Brady has 46.2 percent; a margin of votes that is less than the student population at Eastern.

Officials say the decision of who will win could take weeks to decide.

Sue Rennels, Coles County Clerk, said the reason for the delay for the total is because of absentee and military votes.

“We have 14 days to get military and absentee votes accounted for,” said Rennels.

The Absentee votes had to be postmarked by Sept. 21 to be counted, and if they arrive to proper polling county by Nov. 1 each is added to the total for an official account.

For the state of Illinois, 62 military votes are still out there to be counted for.

Mail overseas can be delayed when coming from that far.

Everything on election night is declared as unofficial titles and nothing is confirmed until Nov. 17.

Many candidates are taking this time to collect the number of absentee votes from each county to see where they stand.

Rennels said electronic issues had nothing to do with the stalled election totals.

“It’s unusual that you could say never, but with how the equipment ran these days, you would be likely to come out with the same results,” said Rennels.

Charleston Mayor, John Inyart said Illinois is an interesting state to run in because of how Chicago is; the majority of Democratic voters reside in the Chicago area, while the rest of Illinois voters vote Republican.

Cook County voted 873,427 for Quinn versus 391,985 for Brady.

Of 102 Illinois counties, only four voted Democratic.

“There are two clear directionally opposite candidates when you look at the races, it all has to add up somehow but I will be happy to work with either one of them,” said Inyart.

Allison Twaits can be reached at 581-7943 or [email protected].