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Even with votes left to count, mathematically, Palmieri appears to win Utica Mayor

By HILARY LANE

Story Created: Nov 17, 2011 at 1:34 PM EDT

Story Updated: Nov 17, 2011 at 7:15 PM EDT

UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - It seems as if Democrat Robert Palmieri is the new mayor of Utica as of Thursday evening.

Around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, representatives from Michael Cerminaro's campaign walked out of the Oneida County Board of Elections and told us "it was over" for them.

We also spoke with Palmieri, who says he was informed by his representatives at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday that he was ahead by 350 votes with 200 left to count, making it impossible for him to lose the election.

Board of Elections officials will not release the results of Utica mayoral race until all absentee ballots are counted.

Thursday marks the second day that the Board of Elections has been counting the 720 absentee ballots. As of 5 p.m. on Thursday, the count had still not been completed.

After Election Day, Palmieri was ahead of Cerminaro by 391 votes. It seems as if the absentee ballots have also swung Palmieri's way.

The candidate told us that he is ready to begin serving the people of Utica.

"When they call up, they are going to get the answers that they need," says Palmieri. "We are going to do everything a little harder and a little better than we have in the past."

As of this writing, Michael Cerminaro had not returned our phone calls.

We will report the official election results as soon as they become available.

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