BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — After a lot of video and a lot of words, ultimately the Bridgeport ballot battle will come down to numbers. Do those numbers add up? That’s what the judge will decide.
Thursday was the day we thought we would hear evidence about how the city of Bridgeport allegedly used the Rental Rebate program for political purposes. Instead, the plaintiffs opted to leave that up to the investigators at the State Election Enforcement Commission.
After more than three days of evidence, the trial came to an abrupt end and the Bridgeport ballot battle is now in the hands of Judge William Clark.
The focus now turns to what comes next. A decision will likely be rendered sometime before the November 7 general election.
“I will concede this is a little bit of unwritten territory,” stated Attorney Bill Bloss, who is representing mayoral challenger John Gomes.
Gomes’ legal team built their case on unprecedented video evidence, but was it enough to show the result of the primary is seriously in doubt?
“I believe based on the videos, based on the counts, based on the number of people using the drop boxes that the answer to that is yes,” said Bloss.
“The only thing it proved is that it rained a lot during the primary,” quipped back Attorney John Kinnelly, who represented the interests of the city of Bridgeport.
Kinnelly did a lot of rebutting and responding in the court of public opinion, but ultimately, he never submitted evidence or called witnesses to the stand in the only court that matters.
“We didn’t feel that enough was put on to merit a response,” explained Kinnelly.
Nor did the defense enter into evidence the video the Ganim team claimed showed Gomes supporters also voting illegally.
“I think you can draw a reasonable conclusion that that evidence did not exist or they would have put it on,” said Bloss.
In the three days of testimony and evidence that was presented, Mayor Joe Ganim dodged direct answers to key questions, Wanda Geter took the 5th, and how all the absentee ballots were not stamped in accordance with the guidelines of the Secretary of State.
But as attorney Kinnelly points out, there were also things that were not seen.
“Not one voter was placed on that stand to say that there was an irregularity in how the votes were cast and tallied," said Kinnelly.
Many questions remain unanswered, including where does Bridgeport go from here?
“If somebody is dead set on cheating, can they cheat? Sure. But I would hope that at least in Bridgeport we may be turning a corner,” said Bloss.
“Did potentially some negative or questionable conduct occur? Yeah. Is it enough to overturn the votes of the people of Bridgeport? No, it’s not,” rebutted Kinnelly.
Some other questions that remain unanswered are what happens if Gomes wins the general election on November 7, but the judge still orders the primary results to be overturned?
This is uncharted territory for Connecticut.
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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