John Venditto expected to win narrowly in Oyster Bay
Incumbent John Venditto, a Republican, left, faces challenger John Mangelli, who is unaffiliated but ran on the Democratic line, right, in the race for Oyster Bay supervisor. Credit: Johnny Milano; Anthony Lanzilote
John Venditto will not be down for the count. With most of the Oyster Bay absentee ballots sorted by Thursday afternoon, it looks like Democrat John Mangelli will have failed to deliver a knockout blow to the Republican incumbent supervisor who actually lost the machine count on Election Day.
Venditto's golden brand was clearly tarnished by the ongoing federal investigation into indicted restaurateur Harendra Singh's contracts to run restaurants at town facilities.
With the smell of scandal hanging over town hall, voters in Republican strongholds who actually went to the polls on Nov. 3 failed to deliver the enormous margins typical for Venditto, creating the opening for Mangelli.
However, typical GOP voting patterns held strong in the 1,781 absentee ballots cast, with almost 900 breaking for Venditto, according to Oyster Bay sources monitoring the count.
Of all the absentees, 968 were cast by those who would be out of town on Election Day, such as college students and snowbirds, and those voters tracked the Election Day trend toward Democrats. The absentee voters also included 800 who are on the "permanent absentee" list, meaning they automatically qualify every year to vote by mail. These typically include those in nursing homes, homebound elderly residents and disabled people. Among that group, the GOP dominance held.
With the race likely to be called very soon and with less than a 100-vote difference, Venditto is expected to keep the keys to town hall thanks to his supporters on the permanent absentee list.
This was featured in The Point, the editorial board's daily newsletter that goes inside New York politics. Click here to subscribe (mobile users, use the link above).
