{"id":5840,"date":"2023-09-26T02:03:11","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T02:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5840"},"modified":"2023-09-26T02:32:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T02:32:55","slug":"connecticut-lawmakers-press-for-absentee-ballot-probe-into-sept-12-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5840","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut lawmakers press for absentee ballot probe into Sept. 12 incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/absentee-ballot-probe\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"absentee<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Connecticut lawmakers are calling for an investigation and changes in state election laws following allegations of absentee ballot fraud in a mayoral election.<\/p>\n

Following the Sept. 12 primary, John Gomes, a Democrat who challenged incumbent Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, released video footage showing a woman depositing absentee ballots into a dropbox a week before the election. Gomes lost to Ganim by 251 mail-in or absentee votes despite beating him at the polls, according to the election results.<\/p>\n

Gomes\u2019 campaign has filed a complaint with the state Elections Enforcement Commission as well as a lawsuit asking a state Superior Court judge to prevent the certification of last Tuesday\u2019s primary results and order a new election.<\/p>\n

But the growing scandal has prompted Connecticut\u2019s top elected officials to call for investigations, changes in state elections laws, and tougher penalties for voter fraud.<\/p>\n

House Republican leader Vincent Candelora said the Bridgeport incident confirms GOP concerns about voting by mail and \u201cposes a direct threat to the public\u2019s fragile confidence in our state\u2019s voting process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBridgeport residents, and voters statewide, deserve a swift, transparent response to this crisis with strong backing from Democrats at the capitol who promote themselves as defenders of democracy \u2013\u00a0including taking action in the upcoming special session to suspend use of absentee ballot drop boxes until the investigation is complete,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ned Lamont has said he wants investigators to \u201cleave no stone unturned\u201d looking into the claims of election fraud in Bridgeport but urged voters \u201cnot to jump to conclusions\u201d about the video showing a Ganim supporter \u2013\u00a0identified by some news outlets as a city worker \u2013\u00a0stuffing ballots into a dropbox.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Ganim denied any wrongdoing and said he doesn\u2019t \u201ccondone, in any way, actions taken by anyone including any campaign, city, or elected official, which undermines the integrity of either the electoral process or city property.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bridgeport Police Department is actively investigating all these matters, and my administration will continue to update the public as we are able to obtain more information,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Under Connecticut law, absentee ballots can only be returned by the registered voter who filled it out, a family member, law enforcement officers, local election officials or an individual caring for an ill or physically disabled person who received an absentee ballot. Violators face up to five years in prison and $5,000 fines.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers, who will meet in a special session this week to deal with unrelated matters, are expected to approve the appointment of a special monitor for Bridgeport\u2019s next mayoral election.<\/p>\n

Ben Pronto, chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party, has also called for an investigation and said Lamont and other top Democrats \u201cshould be screaming that it is time to charge the people seen on the video who are violating the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called for stricter punishment \u201cand actual jail time and larger fines for individuals who attempt to manipulate elections and destroy voters\u2019 confidence in our electoral process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur elections are too important to be wishy washy or to try to distract voters by pointing to national figures who have nothing to do with this debacle in Bridgeport,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cIt is time for Democrat leaders across Connecticut to join with Republicans and work to make this practice a thing of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christian Wade
\nGo to Source<\/a>
\nReposted with permission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/absentee-ballot-probe\/ \u00a0 Connecticut lawmakers are calling for an investigation and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-right-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5840"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5842,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5840\/revisions\/5842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}