Republican lawmakers in Connecticut called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to examine possible systematic voter fraud across the state.
Republican lawmakers told Fox News on Monday that Bondi should examine whether “election crimes in Bridgeport” that led to a series of indictments are “part of a larger, coordinated effort to defraud voters statewide.”
“Connecticut has made embarrassing international news for absentee ballot fraud caught on viral video,” Connecticut Republican State Sen. Rob Sampson and Connecticut State Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding said in joint comments to Fox News.
Footage indeed captured Wanda Geter-Pataky, an official in the Democratic Party, stuffing large numbers of ballots into a drop box outside of Bridgeport City Hall.
The alleged fraud was reportedly meant to benefit Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim.
He was facing a challenge from John Gomes in the 2023 Democratic primary.
A court-ordered rematch saw Ganim emerge victorious, according to a report from the Associated Press.
In total, there have been over 150 election-related charges filed against five Democratic officials amid the 2023 scandal, according to the Connecticut Mirror.
Sampson and Harding, meanwhile, said that SB 1515 and SB 1516, which are both meant to address elections, are insufficient to solve the problem.
The former law would create an accountability board to provide additional oversight of local elections and referendums.
The latter would “expand certain post-election procedures” with respect to ballot returns, as well as regulate “curbside voting.”
That bill is a response to a complaint filed against Alfredo Castillo, a Bridgeport city councilman spotted in a car with voters as they filled out their ballots, according to the Mirror.
He was recorded allegedly soliciting votes from people waiting in the curbside voting line.
The reforms would also stop anyone found guilty of an election-related crime from activities like circulating candidate petitions or absentee ballot applications for as many as 12 years.
The Republican lawmakers nevertheless told Fox News that “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 leaders added.
“Connecticut Democrats have shown no appetite for adopting our commonsense reforms.”
