The Citizen

The candidates for the 24th Congressional District are still battling it out more than 24 hours after the polls closed, with one declaring victory and the other declining to concede.

Incumbent Rep. Michael Arcuri is leading by more than 6,000 votes, according to the latest unofficial results from New York state.

As of Wednesday morning, Arcuri had a total of 116,675 votes and his opponent, Richard Hanna, had 110,833.

Arcuri, D-Utica, said in a press release that he is confident of his win.

“At this point, with all precincts in, I am winning this campaign by nearly 6,400 votes. I expect that margin to hold and only grow as the roughly 9,000 absentee ballots are counted,” he said in the release. “Our issues and our values have prevailed and I am confident this margin will hold.”

Hanna, the Republican, Conservative and Independence challenger, is not conceding the election at this time, said spokeswoman Renee Gamela in an e-mail.

“With about 10,000 absentee ballots and a number of paper ballots from malfunctioning voting machines, it's clear that this race is not over,” Hanna said in an e-mailed statement. “The official count is under way, and the race is simply too close to call.”

Arcuri's lead had been under 2,000 votes with a handful of precincts yet to report as of late Tuesday night.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, there were approximately 15,734 absentee ballots between the 11 counties.

Counties will begin counting the ballots starting as early as this Friday. Gamela confirmed they expect at least 16,000 absentee ballots.

Absentee ballots had to be postmarked no later than Nov. 3 and need to be received by Nov. 11 for regular ballots and Nov. 17 for military absentee ballots, said Robert Brehm, deputy director of public information for the state Board of Elections.

Hanna would need at least two-thirds of the absentee ballots in order to win.

The 24th Congressional District includes 11 counties, including a large part of Cayuga County. Arcuri, the Democratic and Working Families candidate, is seeking his second two-year term. Arcuri's largest margins came in Cayuga and Tompkins counties, where he holds leads of more than 4,000 votes.

The latest numbers

Here are the latest, unofficial returns from New York by county in the race for U.S. House District 24.

TP PR Arcuri Hanna

Broome 37 35 7,315 8,658

Cayuga 56 56 14,097 9,714

Chenango 42 42 8,640 8,501

Cortland 28 28 9,491 7,858

Herkimer 58 58 9,904 13,503

Oneida 170 163 35,044 35,793

Ontario 15 15 3,335 1,756

Otsego 41 41 8,585 7,741

Seneca 27 27 5,757 5,654

Tioga 17 17 2,928 4,308

Tompkins 37 37 11,579 7,347

Totals 528 519 116,675 110,833