Connecticut raises alarm about election fraud concerns: ‘Vote in person’

Connecticut’s Office of the Secretary of the State warned voters Monday about election fraud concerns and encouraged residents to vote in person.

According to a press release from the office, Democratic Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas is urging voters to head to their polling stations instead of filling out an absentee ballot in the upcoming January primary in Bridgeport.

Thomas noted that the state is working to increase presence at City Hall but that it has only two officials slated to monitor Bridgeport elections, the CT Examiner reported. She stated that they “cannot do it all.”

“We encourage anyone who can do so to vote in person on January 23rd. If someone voted by absentee ballot, but is unsure if they should have done so, they may withdraw their absentee ballot by going in-person to the Town Clerk’s office before 10 a.m. on Election Day, and they may then vote at their assigned polling place,” Thomas said.

In November, a judge ruled to overturn Bridgeport’s Democratic primary election following allegations of absentee ballot fraud. Mayor Joe Ganim, who initially appeared to win his re-election campaign, was accused of fraud by his primary opponent, John Gomes.

Gomes’ attorney presented the court with 180 pieces of evidence and alleged video footage proof. An 18-minute video reportedly showed Wanda Geter-Pataky, vice chair of the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee and operations specialist for the city, stuffing stacks of ballots into a drop box and handing ballots to others from her desk. Eneida Martinez, a former city council member, was also allegedly captured depositing ballots.

“Mr. Ganim was also correct to be ‘shocked’ at what he saw on the video clips in evidence that were shown to him while he was on the witness stand,” Judge William Clark wrote. “The videos are shocking to the court and should be shocking to all the parties.”

Clark ruled that the “volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the result of the primary election in serious doubt and leaves the court unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary.”

Ganim appeared to win the primary election by 250 votes only after stacks of ballots were deposited overnight. On election evening, Ganim was trailing Gomes by 487 votes. The mayor has denied any involvement in the apparent election fraud.

City and state officials were ordered to work together to schedule a new primary election.

First elected mayor in 1991, Ganim was in office for 12 years when he was caught accepting bribes, the Associated Press reported. He stepped down from office and spent seven years in prison after being convicted of racketeering, extortion, and other crimes. In 2015, following his release, he was re-elected to his former position.

Director of communications Tara Chozet told the CT Examiner on Monday that Bridgeport has a history of absentee ballot fraud allegations.

“The allegations of absentee ballot fraud in this city go back decades, and because of that, it’s important for Bridgeport voters to know that in-person voting is just one of the many tools they can use to counter the problems that Judge Clark’s order seeks to address,” Chozet stated.

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