UPDATE
Feb 28, 2024 12:00 AM CST
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim won a do-over election Tuesday in Connecticut's most populous city, months after a judge threw out the results of the first one because of allegations of absentee ballot box stuffing during a Democratic primary, the AP reports. Ganim easily defeated fellow Democrat John Gomes, the city's former acting chief administrative officer who had gone to court to get the race rerun on the grounds that the original result was tainted. Yet in the end, Gomes was not able to turn that legal victory into votes. Tuesday marked the fourth straight time Ganim beat him during the messy race, including the now-voided primary in September, a nullified general election in November, and a rerun primary last month.
Nov 1, 2023 4:37 PM CDT
A state judge has taken the unusual step of ordering a new Democratic mayoral primary in Connecticut's largest city to be held after the Nov. 7 general election is completed. The decision comes after surveillance videos showed a woman stuffing what appeared to be absentee ballots into an outdoor ballot box days before the original primary. Superior Court Judge William Clark determined that the allegations of possible malfeasance warrant throwing out the results of the Sept. 12 primary, which Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim won by 251 votes out of 8,173 cast. Absentee ballots secured the incumbent's margin of victory, the AP reports.
"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," Clark wrote in his ruling, adding that the videos "are shocking to the court and should be shocking to all the parties." The new primary date has not been set yet; the general election is expected to continue as planned. Ganim will appear as the Democratic nominee while John Gomes will appear as an independent; it was Gomes' campaign that obtained the surveillance video and released it publicly. The State Elections Enforcement Commission is investigating the allegations concerning the primary. Republican David Herz and petitioning candidate Lamond Daniels are also running for mayor.
story continues below
Gomes had sued city officials, demanding that a new primary be held or that he be declared the winner. After reviewing more than 2,000 hours of surveillance video, Gomes' lawyers contend that they about 420 people used the drop boxes but that at least 1,255 ballots were submitted. Lawyers for city officials questioned the accuracy and relevance of Gomes' video review and argued that the footage does not prove any illegality. They also noted that "not one voter" testified about their ballot being mishandled. News of the case has spread through right-wing media and social media platforms, connecting the issue to the 2020 stolen election claims.
(More
elections stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
