Village Party Candidates Justice John O'Shea, Trustee Maryanne Warnecke and Trustee Warren Brinker were all returned to their seats after winning last Wednesday's Village of Mineola election.

However, as was the case in last year's close elections for mayor and village justice, the defeated candidate has called for a recanvassing of the votes, and a recount is set to take place at the Nassau County Board of Elections on Wednesday.

In last year's election, Village Party Candidate John P. Colbert defeated Hometown Party Candidate Scott Fairgrieve by 13 votes for the office of mayor.

After the machine votes were tabulated, Colbert led by only one vote. However, after the count of absentee ballots, Colbert came away the winner with 1,995 votes to Fairgrieve's 1,982 votes.

The difference to beat this year is 68 votes which Galante needs to tie Brinker in total votes.

The night of their victory the Village Party supporters who celebrated at Cugini's restaurant were surprised by Galante who arrived from Massaro's restaurant to congratulate the winners.

Warnecke and her family were both flattered and impressed by Galante's show of good faith and noted the "class" with which he conducted himself.

This all came about after an election day that some thought would be hampered by a persistent rain. The voter turnout numbered 2,753 casting a total of 6,854 votes.

According to Marianne Cinino and Carole Stillman, Jackson Avenue pollsters, though some election veterans felt the turnout was light, the crowd remained steady throughout the day.

Rain in the past has been known to hurt both the Village Party and incumbents. Despite this the Village Party came away with the win.

Warnecke came out on top in the race for village trustee receiving 1,698 votes from the machine and 64 absentee votes for a total of 1,762 votes. Warnecke had the highest vote count for this year's trustee candidates in most of the districts, only losing districts 19, 20, 26 and 28 to Galante.

Brinker came in second with 1,509 votes from the machine and 50 absentee votes for a total of 1,559 votes and Galante received 1,417 votes from the machine and 74 absentee votes for a total of 1,491 votes.

As one insider said it was improbable that voters voted for both of these two candidates, so many felt the race for trustee was between these two individuals.

Brinker and Galante split the districts with big swings in each individual vote total. For instance, in District 25 Brinker received 171 votes while Galante received only 106. However, in District 20 Galante received 138 votes where Brinker received only 79.

O'Shea, who ran for village justice in a close election last year where he narrowly defeated John Urban by 16 votes, this year ran unopposed. He collected 1,975 votes from the machines and 67 absentee votes for a total of 2,042 votes, and overall received the most votes for any candidate in all except districts 19 and 20 which he lost to Galante.