Todd Gadd, Mike George and Michael Fontaine continue to campaign as write in candidates for town council positions after being removed from the ballot earlier this month after a Supreme Court of the State of New York/County of Erie decision on October 14th.
Link to previous story: WYOMING COUNTY/Town of Bennington residents to receive new ballots after court order removes candidates – Video News Service
SECTION 8-308
Voting; voting write-in
Election (ELN) CHAPTER 17, ARTICLE 8, TITLE 3
§ 8-308. Voting; voting write-in. 1. Ballots voted for any person
whose name does not appear on the ballot as a nominated or designated
candidate for public office or party position are referred to in this
article as write-in ballots.
2. Any write-in vote for a candidate whether or not such candidate’s
name is on the ballot for that contest shall be counted for such
candidate unless such write-in vote creates an invalid overvote in the
contest.
3. A write-in ballot must be cast in its appropriate place on the
ballot, or it shall be void and not counted.
4. A write-in ballot cast in a party primary for a candidate not
enrolled in such party shall be void and not counted.
5. A write-in ballot may also be cast by the use of a name stamp. The
use of name stickers, labels or pasters is prohibited.
Link: NYS Open Legislation | NYSenate.gov
Michael Fontaine is running for a 2-year unexpired term for Bennington Town Council
Mike George is the current ZBA Chairperson and is running for 1-year unexpired term for Bennington Town Council
Todd Gadd is running for a 2-year unexpired term for Bennington Town Council
Considering I was mentioned by name numerous times and there is TONS of misinformation here I will have to be the one to tell people the truth.
This case had nothing to with taking anyone off the ballot and EVERYTHING to do with fighting for the rights of every resident of Bennington to Free, Fair and Open elections.
Mr George blaming the town clerk is sad but predictable. Anyone can read the details of the court case and see the ENTIRE proper and legal process was not followed in the filing of these seats for placement on the ballot.
The REAL story that Video News Service should be covering is the fact that this “process” of selecting these candidates was done in secret and hidden from every other resident of Bennington. Somehow these 3 gentlemen were privileged to information about a resignation that had not even been made public yet. The “minutes” of their secret meeting list no location and the “committee” that tried to place these men on the ballot against NYS election law consists of the last supervisor of our town, multiple members of the previous board who resigned and other disgruntled former town officials unhappy with the results of the last election and still carrying that grudge. The chairman of this “committee” also happens to be the Republican Commissioner of the Board of Elections but somehow these OBVIOUS deviations from proper candidate nominations still occurred.
Public record will also show that members of this “committee” and their families are on record with the Board of Elections as donating thousands of dollars to Mr Georges failed campaign for supervisor last year.
Access to our ballot and the right to free, fair and open elections are foundational to our democracy and these seats should not be handed out to friends or people who owe you favors in secret meetings the general public knows nothing about.
It shatters the public trust in our most treasured freedom and I wasn’t going to allow sacred seats on our ballot to be passed out at a private party the entire town wasn’t invited to.
Access to the ballot for ANY resident of Bennington should not be restricted or granted based on “who you know”.
Sadly but thankfully the courts stepped in to protect the rights and freedoms of Bennington residents from those trying to restrict them.