Connecticut’s largest city, Bridgeport, will hold a new Democratic mayoral primary following a judge’s order. The decision was made after surveillance videos captured a woman stuffing what appeared to be absentee ballots into an outdoor ballot box just days before the original primary. Superior Court Judge William Clark ruled that the allegations of possible malfeasance were serious enough to invalidate the results of the September 12 primary, which incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim had won by a slim margin of 251 votes out of 8,173 cast, with absentee ballots securing his victory.
Judge Clark stated in his ruling that the mishandling of a significant number of ballots raised doubts about the legitimacy of the primary results. He described the videos as “shocking” and emphasized that they should be of concern to all parties involved. The date for the new primary has yet to be determined.
Despite the call for a new primary, the general election will proceed as planned. Ganim will run as the Democratic nominee, while John Gomes, who filed the lawsuit demanding a new primary or to be declared the winner, will run as an independent candidate. Republican David Herz and petitioning candidate Lamond Daniels are also vying for the mayoral seat.
Gomes’ campaign obtained the surveillance footage and publicly released it after the primary. His lawyers argued that the evidence, exhibits, and testimony proved election fraud on an unprecedented scale. They highlighted “multiple violations” of absentee ballot procedures and claimed that the reliability of the primary results was seriously in doubt. After reviewing over 2,000 hours of video footage, Gomes’ lawyers found that approximately 420 individuals used the drop boxes, while at least 1,255 ballots were submitted, further supporting their call for a new primary.
City officials’ lawyers questioned the accuracy and relevance of Gomes’ review of the videos. They argued in a joint legal brief that the footage did not provide evidence of any illegality and emphasized that no voters testified about mishandled ballots.
Meanwhile, the State Elections Enforcement Commission is currently investigating the allegations of ballot-stuffing and other potential election improprieties related to the same primary.
Gomes, a former chief administrative officer of Bridgeport and a onetime ally of Ganim, identified the woman in the surveillance video as Wanda Geter-Pataky, the vice chair of the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee and a supporter of Ganim. Geter-Pataky exercised her right to remain silent during court proceedings when asked about her involvement in the case. Another candidate and former City Council member also declined to answer whether she was present in other videos.
Ganim, who served as mayor before being convicted of corruption and then winning his old job back in a subsequent election after his release from prison, has repeatedly denied any knowledge of ballot-related wrongdoing. He has also raised concerns about other videos allegedly showing Gomes’ campaign workers dropping multiple pieces of paper resembling ballots. Gomes, for his part, has maintained that his staff acted properly.
The news of the Bridgeport videos has gained traction on right-wing social media platforms and far-right media outlets, drawing connections to the claims of a stolen election in 2020.
Contributions to this report were made by Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Pat Eaton-Robb in Columbia, Connecticut.
