Former Vaughan mayor Michael Di Biase won a partial victory in court on Wednesday after a judge ordered a full recount in the challenge over disputed ballots.

Superior Court Justice Peter Howden ruled the recount was needed to correct several problems concerning electronic voting machines used in last November's election.

"We have the satisfaction that every vote is counted and that's very importat to the democratic process," said Di Biase, whose election challenges have already cost taxpayers more than $140,000.

Di Biase lost by a mere 94 votes against bitter rival Linda Jackson, and had been hoping for another election.

Jackson said that until a judge states otherwise, she will remain Vaughan's mayor.

"I'm very confident in the election," she said.

"We have already gone through one recount, and I'm very confident the results will stay the same and I will be the mayor."

The circumstances surrounding the recount are not yet clear. The judge will hear submission on Friday and a ruling could be heard sometime next week.

However, the judge suggested the recount could be done by machines as long as they are reprogrammed.

Di Biase had claimed the electronic voting machines were programmed incorrectly, which meant about 1,600 voters were not notified when their ballots had been rejected for not being properly filled in.

In his ruling, Howden rejected all of Di Biase's arguments except for those surrounding the programming.

Di Biase also cited irregularities surrounding printers and said thousands of Jewish voters had been deterred from voting because some polling stations had been set up in a church.

Following the election, Di Biase complained about voting irregularities and won a bid to have a recount, but lost again to Jackson.

During the hearing, Di Biase's lawyer Stanley Makuch said nothing short of a new election could correct the "irregularities," the Toronto Star reported.

Makuch said by not being given a second chance to correct their vote, residents had been "denied" the right to a vote.

Lawyers for the city and Jackson slammed Di Biase for his "scatter gun" approach to the problems, the Star reported.

The city said the programming decisions by the city clerk were needed to maintain balance between voters who wanted to spoil their ballots and those who had accidentally made mistakes.

Vaughan did not receive a single complaint in the past from Orthodox Jews about the location of the church polling station, court heard.

Jackson's lawyer, Andrew Jeanrie, also argued that Di Biase's concerns about the charter rights of Orthodox Jews was opportunistic because he was aware of the polling locations and didn't raise the issue before the election, the Star reported.

With a report by CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney