Mineola Voters Turnout Despite “Off-Year” Election

Mineola residents voted to stick with what works for the most part, sending many of the incumbent local officials back for another term in their respective offices.

Voter turnout was slightly higher than previous “off-year” elections according to workers at the , with the heaviest amounts of foot traffic occurring Tuesday afternoon.

One Mineola resident, who declined to give her name, said that she voted the Republican line. “We need a change,” she said when asked why she filled in the oval for  and cited the economy, specifically property taxes as the most important issue this election season. “I don’t feel that we’re getting what our taxes are paying for.”

At Tu’s election night headquarters in Roslyn, about 50 supporters and campaign members watched results come in on numerous big screens. Early reports at 10:30 p.m. had Tu leading incumbent supervisor in Mineola by approximately 300 votes, 1,200-900, only to be tied at 4,863 about 10 minutes later when results from around the town were added to the tally.

“We’re going to be here a while,” one of the supporters said, patting the candidate on his back as other people at the Lakeview Diner huddled around computers looking for the latest results.

“It’s going to be a late night,” Tu assured his supporters, but giving a speech close to midnight saying that the anticipated spread between the two candidates would be  about 2,000-3,000 votes. Kaiman later to Tu’s 16,413.

On the county level, , R-New Hyde Park, as a legislator, handily defeated political 7,143-2,633.

“I liked his response to the community,” the Mineola resident said of Nicolello, recalling how the legislator’s office helped her with an issue. “With these times I just feel like we need to stick with someone with experience.”