Accusations of ballot stuffing and voter fraud brought Connecticut Mayor Joe Ganim to court Tuesday

On Sept. 19, Democratic mayoral candidate John Gomes filed a lawsuit against Mayor Joe Ganim for election fraud over the Democratic mayoral primary election in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

On Tuesday, Ganim testified in court, where he denied any knowledge of voter fraud among his campaign staff.

Surveillance footage allegedly showed Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee Vice Chair Wanda Geter-Pataky, who also volunteered for Ganim’s campaign, stuffing a ballot box with white envelopes.

William Bloss, Gomes’ attorney, presented 12 clips of surveillance footage in the case, in which Geter-Pataky herself allegedly drops off ballots and assists others dropping ballots, according to the CT Examiner. Other video allegedly shows her handing stacks of envelopes to visitors and high-fiving voters after they submit their ballots.

Absentee votes must be delivered either by relatives and caregivers or sent by mail, according to Connecticut law.

In the mayoral race, 420 people cast 1,255 absentee ballots at four drop boxes, the Connecticut Post reported. The question as to how 835 other absentee ballots without postage ended up with the Bridgeport clerk is at the center of the trial.

Bloss asked Ganim in court on Tuesday, “Do people on your campaign encourage people to vote by absentee ballot?”

Ganim responded, “Getting people out to vote is critically important.”

The Connecticut Mirror reported that Geter-Pataky was given access to records containing personal information on elderly and disabled Bridgeport residents by Rosemary Wong, who is now retired but ran the city’s renters’ rebate program.

Wong expressed concern that the disclosed information could be used to “target voters,” but it is still unclear whether that information was used for the Sept. 12 election.

Ganim served five terms as Mayor of Bridgeport from 1991 to 2003 before being convicted of 16 felony accounts in 2003, including mail fraud, racketeering, bribery, conspiracy and “filing false income tax returns,” per a press release by the United States Attorney’s Office District of Connecticut.

The press release said that Ganim was found guilty of “corruptly soliciting and receiving more than $500,000 in benefits, including cash, meals, entertainment, merchandise, home improvements and professional services.”

His sentence included nine years in prison, three years of supervised release and $150,000 in fines for conviction on corruption charges.

Ganim was reelected as mayor in 2015 and has served consecutively since then.

The hearing will resume on Thursday, when the defense will begin its case.