BRIDGEPORT, Conn. —
A civil lawsuit connected to allegations of election fraud briefly convened for a hearing at Bridgeport Superior Court Monday, before recessing when it was determined the parties needed more time to produce and examine evidence.
The campaign for John Gomes for Mayor filed a lawsuit claiming the votes in the primary were not counted correctly. He is calling for Judge William Clark to overturn the results of the primary, which showed Mayor Joe Ganim ahead by 251 votes, and to order a new primary be held.
The wheels of justice, are on the clock to issue a ruling before the general election which is set for Nov. 7. However, even if a ruling doesn’t come until after the general election, Atty. William Bloss, who represents Gomes, says the judge can still order a new primary to take place after a general election, which would then be followed by a second general election.
The State Elections Enforcement Commission, which is already conducting its own investigation into the Bridgeport primary, worked through the weekend to copy and scan more than 10,000 absentee ballot applications and other related documents to hand over to all the parties of the lawsuit.
The SEEC said in a filing however, that they still need more time to copy the inner and outer ballot envelopes. It’s a slower process because they need to avoid damaging them and are trying to preserve forensic evidence associated with them.
In addition to the documents, the Gomes campaign has demanded the City of Bridgeport turn over surveillance video from all four of Bridgeport’s absentee ballot drop boxes between Aug 22nd and Sept. 12. It’s a daunting task involving 8-terabytes of digital storage and more than 2,000 hours of footage.
In response, attorneys representing the Bridgeport Police Department have filed a motion to quash the release of that video. They say it is part of an open and active criminal investigation and that its release may prejudice the outcome.
Once all the evidence has been produced and all parties have had a chance to examine it, witnesses in the civil suit will be called to testify. Among those subpoenaed, Wanda Geter-Pataky, who is in the process of obtaining her own attorney. She is the woman allegedly caught on surveillance video putting white papers into the absentee ballot box a week before the primary outside the Margaret Morton Government Center. Geter-Pataky works inside the building as an operations specialist. Geter-Pataky is allegedly seen making seven separate drops over a two hour span. The video was obtained by the Gomes campaign. Its acquisition is the subject of a separate investigation being conducted by the Bridgeport Police Department.
“This is an unusual case in the respect that I am unfamiliar with any other election case in Connecticut where there is video that is going to have to be reviewed,” said Atty. Bloss.
What remains unclear is what, if any involvement city leaders including Mayor Joe Ganim himself had in any wrongdoing. His office has continued to deny any allegations.
“I am sure that he is aware that the number of absentee ballots in Bridgeport substantially exceeds, by a factor of four or five, any other big cities in the state. It doesn’t mean there is necessarily a problem with it, but we know there have been problems in Bridgeport,” explained Bloss.
Gomes added, “From what I understand this video was under the possession of the city and other people within the city for days before it came to light. So that’s a question that they have to answer as to why they held it for so long. And the severity of the content in violation of civil rights as we saw,” said Gomes.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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