Connecticut’s State Elections Enforcement Commission has opened an investigation into Bridgeport’s Democratic primary results and voted to subpoena all of the absentee ballots.
Seven-term incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim was trailing his opponent John Gomes in the count of in-person votes but scored a come-from-behind victory when the absentee ballots were cast. A similar result occurred four years earlier when State Sen. Marilyn Moore was ahead with the in-person vote count but lost when the absentee ballots overwhelmingly threw the race to Ganim.
According to a CTMirror report, the commission said it received at least four complaints from citizens and two referrals from the Bridgeport Police Department regarding possible misuse of absentee ballots. The Gomes campaign has released a surveillance video showing a Ganim supporter depositing absentee ballots in a drop box approximately one week ahead of the election – only voters or their family members and caretakers can make such deposits. The Gomes campaign identified the worker as Wanda Geter-Pataky, a city employee and vice chairwoman of Bridgeport’s Democratic Town Committee.
“Since even before last Tuesday’s primary in Bridgeport, there has been a significant amount of attention drawn to allegations of impropriety surrounding the ballots, in particular the use or misuse of absentee ballots in that primary,” said Stephen Penny, the commission’s chairman. “These allegations have the effect of undermining the public’s trust in free and fair elections, and we take them very seriously.”
The commission did not set a timeline on when their investigation would conclude. The 2019 primary results also sparked an investigation by the commission, but that did not conclude until last June.
Gomes will still have a chance to win the Bridgeport mayor’s job in November as a candidate for a third party.
