Connecticut Democratic Sec. of State Stephanie Thomas encouraged voters Monday to vote in person rather than by absentee ballot after fraud concerns.
The state holds its primary race on Jan. 23, with Thomas saying the state is working to increase its presence at City Hall but that two officials set to monitor Bridgeport elections “cannot do it all,” the CT Examiner reported.
“Our monitors cannot do it all, and we encourage anyone who can do so to vote in person on January 23rd,” Thomas said in a statement, NBC Connecticut reported. “If someone voted by absentee ballot, but is unsure if they should have done so, they may withdraw their absentee ballot by going in person to the Town Clerk’s office before 10 a.m. on Election Day, and they may then vote at their assigned polling place.” (RELATED: Georgia Official Downplays Existence Of Voting Machine Issues Ahead Of 2024, Despite Expert Concerns)
The announcement comes weeks after a judge overturned a Democratic primary race after video evidence allegedly showed incumbent mayor Joe Ganim cheated.
Ganim was trailing his opponent, John Gomes, by 487 votes on election night, ABC 7 NY reported. By the following morning, Ganim was suddenly up by 251 votes after absentee ballots came in, according to the report. Superior Court Judge William Clark ruled given the vast amount of evidence, “the reliability of the result of the election is seriously in doubt.”
This is the OUTRAGEOUS video of the Democrat Clerk stuffing illegal ballots into the City drop box and visiting it multiple times in one day
This video was leaked by a whistleblower inside the City and @gatewaypundit helped share it with the world pic.twitter.com/XRUl52PtYZ
— George (@BehizyTweets) November 1, 2023
“The volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the results of the primary election into serious doubt and leaves the court unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary,” Clark ruled.
Ganim was previously convicted of corruption during his first go-around as Mayor but was re-elected after he was released from prison, The Associated Press reported.
The state legislature previously voted to appoint an election monitor for the municipal election in 2023 and the state election this year but the role of the monitor was expanded following Clark’s ruling, according to the CT Examiner. Thomas said two election monitors have been appearing daily at the Town Clerk’s office since Dec. 29, have provided training for city election staff and met with local leaders to go over the election process, according to the report.