UPDATE: Bennett Elected New Mayor of Waterloo

UPDATE:  Walter Bennett has been elected Mayor of Waterloo.

At the conclusion of absentee ballots counting on Wednesday morning, Bennett’s had 12 more votes than Gina Suffredini, the same margin he had after votes at the polls were tabulated on Tuesday night.

Both Bennett and Suffredini each picked up another 45 votes this morning making the final vote count 371-to-359.

The Seneca County Board of Elections will audit the ballots, meaning they will count all of them by hand tomorrow, before declaring the results official.

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Twelve votes separate the two candidates that want to be the next Waterloo mayor.

After the polls were closed Tuesday night, Republican-Conservative candidate Walter Bennett leads Democrat Gina Suffredini 326-to-314.

There are 88 absentee ballots and 2-affidavit ballots still to be counted.  The Seneca County Board of Elections will count those votes Wednesday morning beginning at 10 am.

Suffredini is retired from the Waterloo School District and has served as a village trustee and deputy mayor. Bennett is a technical business analyst for a multi-national software company and a political newcomer.

In the race for Village Trustee, the Republican-Conservative candidates, A.J. Trahams and Patrica Bartran, were elected.

There are 2,843 registered voters in the village, the total number of votes cast Tuesday was 646.