O'Connell attended Mineola High School. A registered nurse, she is a graduate of the Flushing Hospital and Medical Center School of Nursing and holds a B.S. in Health Care Administration from. O'Connell is also an attorney, with a Juris Doctorate from St. John's University School of Law.
O'Connell served as a Trustee and as Deputy Mayor of the Village of East Williston from 1991 through 1998. She serves on the Board of Directors of the St. John's University School of Law Alumni Association and the Maternity & Early Childhood Foundation. In January 2007, O'Connell was selected as the Republican, Conservative, and Independence candidate for the open 7th State Senatorial District in a special election, called by Governor Eliot Spitzer to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Senator Michael A.L. Balboni.
The polls closed February 6, 2007 with Johnson defeating O'Connell. November 1998 general election, NYS Assembly, 17th AD November 2000 general election, NYS Assembly, 17th AD November 2002 general election, NYS Assembly, 17th AD November 2004 general election, NYS Assembly, 17th AD February 2007 special election, NYS Senate, 7th SD.
Prior to her taking office as County Clerk on January 1, 2006, O'Connell served as the first woman to be sent by the 17th District to the New York State Assembly, where she served as ranking member of the Assembly’s Health Committee and on the Judiciary, Insurance and Ethics Committees.
