Current:Home > reviewsConnecticut lawmakers OK election monitor for Bridgeport after mayor race tainted by possible fraud -Dynamic Wealth Solutions
Connecticut lawmakers OK election monitor for Bridgeport after mayor race tainted by possible fraud
View
Date:2025-04-13 11:51:15
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut lawmakers voted Tuesday to approve $150,000 in funding for a special election monitor for Bridgeport, as the state’s largest city is enveloped in controversy after surveillance cameras recorded a woman stuffing pieces of paper into an absentee ballot drop box a week before the mayoral primary.
Under the new legislation, the monitor will conduct inspections and investigations for the 2023 municipal election and the 2024 state election in Bridgeport. The possible electoral fraud incident is already the subject of a state elections investigation and a civil lawsuit filed by the candidate who lost the primary.
The measure overwhelmingly cleared the House of Representatives and Senate during a special legislative session. Republicans in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly insisted Connecticut must take more steps to tighten its electoral laws and ensure confidence in elections across the state.
“It’s necessary to show the people of Connecticut that we’re not going to tolerate people undermining our election process,” said state Sen. Rob Sampson, a Republican from Wolcott. He said the video confirmed his fears about how absentee ballots can be misused. Sampson, as well as Republicans in the state House, unsuccessfully tried to amend the election monitor bill to get rid of drop boxes from outside all 169 city and town halls.
Democrats said more needs to be learned about the video. They also contend that getting rid of ballot drop boxes would disenfranchise voters in other communities who’ve come to rely on the boxes, which were first installed during the pandemic as a safety measure.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, a Democrat from Hartford, said his party takes the allegations of electoral fraud very seriously.
“The one question for today is ... do you take a wrecking ball approach and ban everything for everybody else?” Ritter said. “Or do you try to use more of a scalpel approach in dealing with a situation we all agree is serious?”
Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to pass other measures, including tougher criminal penalties for election lawbreakers and mandatory minimum prison sentences for those convicted of election crimes.
Bridgeport Sen. Marilyn Moore, a Democrat who also lost a mayoral primary to incumbent Mayor Joseph Ganim in 2019 that’s currently under a separate criminal investigation, said the General Assembly should focus now on the election monitor and wait to hold a public hearing on other proposals.
The $150,000 for the election monitor had been approved earlier this year for the two-year position, but it was mistakenly sent to the wrong state agency.
The bill, which awaits Gov. Ned Lamont’s signature, also moves up the date of Connecticut’s presidential primary from the last Tuesday in April to the first Tuesday — another measure that had received bipartisan support in the regular legislative session but failed in the final hours. Connecticut will now join New York and Pennsylvania. Leaders of both the state Democratic and Republican party hope the move will lead to more campaign visits from presidential candidates and subsequently give Connecticut voters a greater say in the election.
Approval of Bridgeport’s election monitor comes as John Gomes, who lost the Sept. 12 Democratic primary to Ganim by 251 votes, has asked a state judge to either declare him the winner or order a new primary. The judge has given lawyers in the case until next month to review voluminous amounts of evidence in the case.
The videos, taken by city-owned security cameras, were made public by Gomes, Bridgeport’s former chief administrative officer, days after he lost the Democratic primary. Excerpts posted by the Gomes campaign purport to show a woman visiting a drop box outside Bridgeport’s City Hall Annex multiple times during the early morning hours. 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.
Ganim has said he did “not 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.”
veryGood! (5869)
Related
- Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
- New charges announced against 4 youths arrested in gunfire at event to mark end of Ramadan
- Climber dead, another injured after falling 1,000 feet while scaling mountain in Alaska
- United Methodists prepare for votes on lifting LGBTQ bans and other issues at General Conference
- Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
- MLB plans to make changes to polarizing uniforms no later than start of 2025 season
- CBS Sports announces Matt Ryan will join NFL studio show. Longtime analysts Simms and Esiason depart
- The Best Mother-in-Law Gifts That Will Keep You on Her Good Side & Make Her Love You Even More
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- 3 U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones, worth about $30 million each, have crashed in or near Yemen since November
Ranking
- Bodycam footage shows high
- My $250 Beats Earbuds Got Ran Over by a Car and This $25 Pair Is the Perfect Replacement
- 4 dead in Oklahoma as tornadoes, storms blast Midwest; more severe weather looms
- Kentucky Derby post positions announced for horses in the 2024 field
- How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
- Missing teen child of tech executives found safe in San Francisco, suspect in custody
- Demonstrators breach barriers, clash at UCLA as campus protests multiply: Updates
- Rihanna Reveals How Her and A$AP Rocky’s Sons Bring New Purpose to Her Life
Recommendation
Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
Dan Rather, at 92, on a life in news
New York Rangers sweep Washington Capitals, advance to second round of NHL playoffs
Russia attacks Ukrainian energy sector as Kyiv launches drones at southern Russia
The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
Missing teen child of tech executives found safe in San Francisco, suspect in custody
Bucks won't have Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard for Game 4 vs. Pacers
Andrew Tate's trial on rape and human trafficking charges can begin, Romania court rules