BANGOR – Two incumbents and a newcomer appear to have won seats on the City Council, but the unusually large number of absentee ballots may change the outcome.

That’s because the last of the nearly 1,800 absentee ballots cast, however, were still being counted early today.

With eight of the city’s nine precincts reporting, Dan Tremble, 37, was leading in the five-way race for three council seats with 5,406 votes. Frank Farrington, 71, was second with 4,696 and Richard Greene, 46, appeared to have won his first term on the council with 3,479.

Only 131 votes, however, separated Greene from the apparent fourth-place candidate John H. Cashwell III, who had 3,479 votes. Torvic Vardamis trailed the others with 3,021 votes.

The outcome of the school committee race was not in doubt. Two incumbents, Susan Carlisle and Christine Szal, and a newcomer, Phyllis Guerette, ran for three seats.