A village trustee election in Monticello, New York is facing questions after multiple voters reported never receiving absentee ballots they had requested — while absentee voting surged to levels that fully reversed the in-person results and handed victory to the incumbents.

The March 18 election, which drew candidates for two Village Trustee seats and a Village Justice seat, was administered by the village itself rather than the Sullivan County Board of Elections, which confirmed the race falls outside its jurisdiction.

In-person voting on Election Day favored the challenger. Aron Grunwald, running on the Monticello United line, received 129 in-person votes, compared to 107 for incumbent trustee Gordon Jenkins and 101 for incumbent trustee John Barbarite.

The absentee count told a different story. Jenkins and Barbarite each received 313 absentee ballots. Grunwald received 76. The incumbents won both seats.

Absentee ballot volume in this election was dramatically higher than in prior village races. Whether that surge reflects legitimate turnout, aggressive ballot collection, or something else is among the questions now being raised.

A number of voters say they formally requested absentee ballots and never received them — and received no notice of denial or explanation for the failure. The voters raising these concerns are Jewish residents of Monticello who were unlikely to support the incumbents.

Whether the non-delivery was widespread, how many voters were affected, and whether it was concentrated among any particular demographic are questions that have not yet been answered.

Because Monticello administers its own elections, responsibility for sending out absentee ballots and publishing legal notices falls to Village Clerk Janine Gandy-McKinney. Gandy-McKinney is, by multiple accounts, a close longtime associate of current Village Mayor Rochelle Massey and serves in her administration.

One of the winning candidates, Gordon Jenkins, is Massey’s husband. Jenkins currently holds the positions of deputy mayor and trustee. He previously served as village mayor before being removed from that position by order of the State Supreme Court.

Gandy-McKinney has not responded to requests for comment and clarification from YWN.

Legal notice of the election was reportedly sent to a press distribution list the evening before polls opened. New York law requires advance publication of election notices within specific timeframes. From the information provided to YWN, proper notice was not provided and published in this case.

Mayor Massey has faced criticism from Jewish community members in prior election cycles over campaign rhetoric they described as fearmongering about the Jewish community’s presence and growth in Monticello. That history has added urgency to the concerns being raised about this election’s administration.

The Sullivan County Board of Elections said the race is outside its jurisdiction. Sullivan County District Attorney Brian Conaty was contacted about the matter last week. He has not responded.

No state or federal authority has publicly announced any review of the election. The New York State Board of Elections and the state Attorney General’s office have not commented.

For now, the election results stand. The voters who say they never received their ballots have no formal process through which to challenge the outcome — at least not yet.

Whether the missing ballots were the result of administrative failure, something more deliberate, or a combination of factors remains unknown. What is clear is that an election administered by a partisan appointee, in which absentee ballots surged dramatically and determined a result that in-person voting had pointed the other way, has produced serious unanswered questions — and so far, no one with authority to investigate them has stepped forward to do so.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)