Surveillance videos of a woman making multiple early morning trips to stuff papers into an absentee ballot drop box prompted Connecticut election officials to open an investigation Wednesday into possible fraud in the mayoral primary in Bridgeport, the state's largest city.
The videos, taken by city-owned security cameras, were made public this week by Bridgeport's former chief administrative officer John Gomes, days after he lost to incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim.
The original recordings have not been released by the city, but excerpts posted by the Gomes campaign purport to show a woman visiting a drop box outside Bridgeport's City Hall Annex three times between 5:42 a.m. and 6:38 a.m. on Sept. 5 and stuffing documents inside. The video also shows the same woman inside City Hall Annex handing papers to a man, who then deposits them in the absentee ballot box just before 7:20 a.m.
Under Connecticut law, people using a collection box to vote by absentee ballot must drop off their completed ballots themselves, or designate certain family members, police, local election officials or a caregiver to do it for them.
The State Elections Enforcement Commission voted Wednesday to launch an investigation after receiving multiple referrals and complaints on the matter from Bridgeport police and others.
鈥淪ince even before last Tuesday鈥檚 primary in Bridgeport, there has been a significant amount of attention drawn to allegations of impropriety surrounding the ballots, particularly the use or misuse of absentee ballots in the primary. These allegations have the effect of undermining the public鈥檚 trust in free and fair elections, and we take it very seriously,鈥� said Stephen Penny, the commission's chair.
The commission said it would subpoena the city of Bridgeport for all relevant documents concerning the ballots, including absentee ballot applicant lists and ballot envelopes.
Gomes would not say how his campaign obtained the city video other than it was given to them 鈥渂ecause Bridgeport is tired to see the continuation of the violation of our civil rights.鈥� The Associated Press could not immediately independently verify the authenticity of the video released by his campaign.
Gomes filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to have the Sept. 12 primary redone, or him declared the winner.
In a statement released Monday, Ganim said he did 鈥渘ot condone, in any way, actions taken by anyone including any campaign, city, or elected officials, which undermines the integrity of either the electoral process or city property.鈥�
For decades, Bridgeport, a heavily Democratic working-class city of 148,000, about 62 miles (100 km) east of New York City, has been under state and federal scrutiny for alleged irregularities involving absentee ballots. New primaries have been called over the years in state legislative and local city council races because of absentee ballot problems.
Ganim, 63, was first elected mayor in 1991 and served 12 years before quitting when he was caught accepting bribes and kickbacks. Convicted of racketeering, extortion and other crimes, he spent seven years in prison, but then . He won reelection again four years ago.
As recently as June, state election officials who investigated allegations of absentee ballot fraud in the 2019 mayoral primary referred three people with ties to Ganim鈥檚 reelection campaign to state prosecutors, saying they had found 鈥渆vidence of possible criminal violations.鈥�
It is unclear whether prosecutors took any action.
Gemeem Davis, vice president and co-director of Bridgeport Generation Now, a social action organization, said she has heard for years from residents who have been promised help with things like buying groceries, getting a new mattress or a renter鈥檚 property tax rebate, as well as having their sidewalks fixed, so long as they fill out an absentee ballot a certain way.
鈥淭hese people pretend to be their friend,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 absolutely nothing wrong with candidates trying to persuade voters to vote for them. But you can鈥檛 lie to voters, and you can鈥檛 engage in criminal activity.鈥�
She said the video looks like evidence of wrongdoing.
"With the surveillance video clearly showing that there was like quite literally a bag full of absentees being stuffed into the drop box, to me, it feels like we鈥檝e reached the pinnacle now,鈥� Davis said.
Gomes, who is still eligible to run in the general election as an independent candidate, said in his lawsuit that he learned about the existence of the surveillance video three days after the primary.
The lawsuit said the video 鈥渁ppears to show a person who is not an election official and who should not possess absentee ballots except her own depositing what appears to be multiple absentee ballots鈥� in the drop box.
鈥淎nother video shows another person exiting from the same building and also depositing what appears to be absentee ballots into that drop box,鈥� the lawsuit reads.
The Bridgeport Police said in a statement that in addition to investigating possible criminal wrongdoing involving the ballots, it was investigating whether any possible breach of the city's security video management system occurred.
State Republicans have pounced on the scandal.
鈥淲here there is smoke there is fire and, given that three of Mayor Ganim鈥檚 campaign workers from his last election have been referred to the Chief State鈥檚 Attorney for criminal prosecution for absentee ballot fraud, I鈥檇 say the smoke is actually a full-blown raging inferno,鈥� Republican State Party Chair Ben Proto said.
Susan Haigh, The Associated Press
