CT ballot fraud saga leads GOP to alert Bondi after 150 charges lodged, Dem reforms ‘miss the mark,' they say
Ballot fraud concerns stretching back to a judicially-overturned 2023 election in Connecticut’s largest city have led state lawmakers to spar over how to reform the system after dozens of criminal charges were lodged in the latest cases there.
On Monday, Republican leaders told Fox News Digital they have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to probe whether "election crimes in Bridgeport" that led to the indictments are "part of a larger, coordinated effort to defraud voters statewide" – adding that Democrats’ two new election reform bills drafted in response to the latest case "miss the mark."
"Connecticut has made embarrassing international news for absentee ballot fraud caught on viral video," state Sen. Rob Sampson of Wolcott and Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield said in joint comments to Fox News Digital.
Sampson is currently the ranking Republican on the bicameral Government Administration and Elections Committee considering the bills.
4 CT DEM OPERATIVES CHARGED IN ABSENTEE BALLOT MISUSE PROBE
"Everyone saw it," the Republicans said of various CCTV tapes from Bridgeport showing city Democratic Party official Wanda Geter-Pataky allegedly engaging in ballot-stuffing, inserting large numbers of ballots into a drop box outside city hall.
Reports at the time characterized the effort as one seeking to benefit Mayor Joe Ganim against challenger John Gomes, and the controversy ultimately spilled into the 2024 court-ordered "redo" between the two men.
Sampson and Harding said legislative Republicans wrote to Bondi to formally request a federal investigation into whether "election crimes in Bridgeport are part of a larger, coordinated effort to defraud voters statewide."
They added the two bills presented in committee on Friday – SB 1515 and SB 1516 – are woefully inadequate and do not meet the moment.
SB 1515 would establish a Municipal Election Accountability Board, which would provide oversight of towns and cities’ elections and related referenda.
SB 1516 would "expand certain post-election procedures" relating to the correction of ballot returns, and better regulate "curbside voting" – including prohibiting a worker from sitting in a voter’s vehicle while they fill out their ballot – and how soon certain criminal convicts could circulate nominating petitions. It also would install an election monitor for larger cities effective for the 2025 off-year elections and prohibit commercial use of certain voter registration information.
"We have Democrats from Bridgeport traveling to the capitol to push for the state and individual campaigns to be removed from the absentee ballot process. Empowering the state government in this area is not the solution," the GOP leaders said.
"Connecticut Democrats have shown no appetite for adopting our commonsense reforms."
WATTERS: VOTER FRAUD NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED
A representative for House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, directed Fox News Digital to the Senate, where Senate President Pro-Tem Martin Looney of New Haven did not respond.
Much of SB 1516's recommendations mirror those of Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas, according to a Senate representative. In the lower chamber, House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora called election fraud a "serious problem" in the state, in comments to Fox News Digital.
"Residents know it and so does this nation," said Candelora, R-East Haven.
Candelora said bad actors must be told they will face jail time if they commit electoral hijinks.
"Until the legislature sends that message, those intent on cheating will always find a way," he said.
Earlier this month, five Democratic officials – including Geter-Pataky, who was repeatedly covered on Fox News Channel’s "Jesse Watters Primetime" – were charged with about 150 election-related offenses all-told, according to the Connecticut Post.
In an exposé last year, Watters reported Geter-Pataky had participated in several "get out the vote efforts" over the years and was subject to at least two different election-related probes at the time.
"Is Wanda a bug in the system or is Wanda the system? We need cameras everywhere. We need cameras on the drop boxes, in the election centers and in the countingrooms. They make police wear body cameras: We should strap body cameras to election officials," the host suggested.
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In September, a "Jesse Watters Primetime" correspondent confronted Pataky, who did not offer comment.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, previously dismissed claims the "potential corruption" was tied to early voting and absentee balloting.
"I think it’s people who do the corrupting," Lamont said.
According to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s "Voter Fraud Report," Geter-Pataky made "10 drops either directly or indirectly" and another woman made five separate ballot drops during Bridgeport’s 2023 mayoral primary.
Meanwhile, the judge who overturned the election ruled the "volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the result of the primary election into serious doubt and leaves the court unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary," and called videos of the situation "shocking."
A Connecticut Post report on the slew of charges from earlier this month said the "vast majority" are lodged against Geter-Pataky, while other defendants include council members Alfredo Castillo and Maria Pereira.
Gomes appeared to disagree with Republicans' aversion to the bills, telling the Hartford Courant the municipal accountability board outlined in SB 1515 is needed. He pointed to the criminal complaint, which reportedly outlined an allegation Geter-Pataky was permitted by town clerks to insert a ballot into a tote being used to empty a drop box.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department for comment on the request for Bondi’s help.