A judge ruled this week that results of a Democratic primary held for a Connecticut mayoral race must be thrown out due to improper depositing of absentee ballots.
Now, candidates will have to participate in a do-over. However, the general election is scheduled on Tuesday (Nov. 7), so the do-over primary will likely be held after – and it is unclear if it will impact the results.
According to the Connecticut Post, incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim defeated challenger John Gomes by 251 votes in Bridgeport’s Sept. 12 primary. However, Gomes challenged the results after he discovered video footage showing a person putting multiple ballots into a drop box and filed a lawsuit.
“The court finds the plaintiff has met its burden of proof and established violations in the placing of absentee ballot into drop boxes by partisans who were not designated to handle such ballots and 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,” Judge William Clark said in the Wednesday ruling favoring Gomes.
Although election fraud concerns have increased in the wake of the 2020 presidential election – three in 10 Americans believe President Joe Biden won due to voter fraud, NBC News reported this summer – and former President Donald Trump’s continued unfounded claims of election interference, election fraud in the U.S. is rare. That’s according to the Brennan Center and The Washington Post. Still, there are some cases, and the Bridgeport incident appears to be one of those rare examples.
“Almost everyone who looked at the video had the same reaction as Judge Clark, total shock,” Bloss said. “This is a first step at fixing a broken system in Bridgeport.”
Gomes’ attorney, William Bloss, said that 24 video clips from police cameras showed that 1,255 absentee ballots put in drop boxes came from 420 people. While Connecticut law only allows caretakers of voters and close relatives to put absentee ballots in drop boxes, Bloss said the footage showed Wanda Geter-Pataky, the vice chair of the Democratic Town Committee, and council candidate Eneida Martinez putting stacks of absentee ballots into ballot drop boxes on multiple occasions.
“Geter-Pataky and Martinez invoked their Fifth Amendment right against incrimination when asked on the witness stand whether they handled other people’s absentee ballots,” said the Connecticut Post.
“The mishandling of absentee ballots by Ms Geter-Pataky and Ms Martinez in violation of (state law) renders those ballots so mishandled, incapable of being validly cast and thus incapable of being counted,” said Judge Clark, who asserted that the women supported Ganim in the election.
Per the Connecticut Post, Deputy City Attorney John Bohannon did not immediately return messages seeking comment. On the other hand, Ganim encouraged people to vote in the Nov. 7 election. Judge Clark said the mayor also appeared shocked about the mishandling of ballots.