MONTICELLO — After polls closed on Tuesday night, Trustee and candidate for mayor George Nikolados held a strong lead over incumbent Mayor Gary Sommers in Monticello's village elections.

According to unofficial results, Nikolados garnered 401 votes while Sommers collected 161.

Out of the four candidates vying for two trustee seats, Michael Banks and Mike Greco led the pack with 342 and 240 votes, respectively. They were followed by incumbent Trustee Carmen Rue with 222 votes and David Komatz with 157.

As of presstime on Thursday, The Sullivan County Board of Elections (SCBOE) said there were at least 249 absentee ballots to be opened and counted. Although that figure includes the absentee ballots for all village elections, Monticello had the only contested races.

The absentee ballot hearing is taking place today.

Nikolados, who owns the Miss Monticello Diner on Broadway a block away from Village Hall on Pleasant Street, was elected trustee in 2016.

In 2019, Nikolados campaigned for county legislator in district nine and narrowly lost to Republican Incumbent Alan Sorensen by 68 votes.

Before the absentee ballot count could begin today, Sommers and Rue filed a lawsuit against the Sullivan County Board of Elections (SCBOE) and its commissioners alleging that they'd delivered approximately 320 voter absentee ballot applications to the SCBOE and many of those voters did not receive their ballots.

Sommers told the Democrat that over the past several months they had registered much of the Hasidic community in the Village of Monticello.

“They sent their registration from anywhere from three weeks ago to six months ago, so it's a little upsetting,” Sommers said, alleging discrimination toward that community.

The suit by Sommers and Rue calls on the SCBOE to extend an additional two weeks in order to mail out and process absentee ballots.

According to Sullivan County Communications Director Dan Hust, the County does not comment on active litigation.