A court order has thrown Bennington's town council race into last-minute turmoil, forcing the Wyoming County Board of Elections to strip three candidates from the November 3 general election ballot and remail absentee ballots to residents who already requested them. Todd M. Gadd, Michael G. George and Michael J. Fontaine will now appear only as write-in options, while Bennington Supervisor Mark Prior and councilperson candidate Deborah Anstett remain on the printed ballot.
The decision came from the Supreme Court, State of New York, County of Erie, which ordered the Wyoming County Board of Elections to remove Gadd, George and Fontaine from the ballot, according to Video News Service. The outlet reports that the three men will now be write-in candidates only, while Anstett, who is running for a two-year councilperson term, and Prior will remain on the ballot as originally listed.
Absentee Ballots Headed Back Out to Residents
For anyone in Bennington who already requested an absentee ballot, a new one is coming. The Board of Elections will remail absentee ballots to those residents following the court's order, per the same report. Bennington voters are set to cast ballots in the November 3, 2026 general election, and the Board of Elections has set October 24, 2026 as both the last day to register to vote and the first day of early voting.
Prior says he brought the fight to court himself after other avenues failed. “So, I did, and not for me, for the people of Bennington,” he said of filing the lawsuit, which he described as aimed at protecting free, fair and open elections — and which he says succeeded. He shared the outcome with residents at the October 14 regular town board meeting.
How the Dispute Started
The chain of events traces back to July 10, when town councilperson Bemard Frounick resigned his seat. Prior said the Bennington Republican Committee discussed candidates for the vacant ballot positions that July without meeting statutory requirements — and that Frounick's resignation had not even been made public yet when the committee took up the matter, according to Prior's account.
Prior said he asked the committee chairman how residents could get involved in the process, got no response to direct texts, and was later told the Board of Elections had already received three certificates of acceptance covering the three open town council positions. He said he brought the issue to local and county parties but was ignored by both the committee and the Board of Elections.
According to Prior, he also met with the county attorney, the county administrator and the full board of supervisors, who indicated nothing could be done through those channels. He said attempts to resolve the dispute with the committee, election officials and county officials all came up empty before he turned to the courts.
Signatures Headed to the County Ethics Board
Prior says he collected signatures from more than 200 town residents who shared his concerns about the candidate-selection process and about public trust in local government. He says he plans to present those signatures to the county Board of Ethics on behalf of Bennington residents.
The case touches on election-law provisions governing exactly this kind of late-stage ballot dispute. Under New York Election Law § 7-116, an exception applies when a candidate is removed from the ballot by court order too late to allow full compliance with the usual ballot-ordering requirements. A related provision, New York Election Law § 7-122, allows a board of elections or a court to later determine that a certification, designation or nomination is invalid, meaning votes cast for that nominee would not be counted.
With early voting and the registration deadline both falling on October 24, Bennington residents have a narrow window to make sure their paperwork and ballots are in order before the November 3 election.
