A revote is being held in Bridgeport, Connecticut, after the Democratic mayoral primary election was tainted by a ballot stuffing scandal last year. Voters are set to hit the polls on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
A judge ordered the revote after the voting fraud was caught on camera. Now, there are new election complaints that have already been filed ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
John Gomes, running for mayor against incumbent Joe Ganim, filed a lawsuit against Ganim and multiple officials after the videos surfaced. Surveillance cameras outside ballot drop boxes captured several people inserting multiple ballots at once on multiple occasions.
According to Gomes’ lawyer Bill Bloss, video surveillance showed no more than 420 people use ballot drop boxes. However, over 1,200 ballots were inside the boxes.
Some of the people caught on camera were accused of being city employees who were connected to helping Ganim’s campaign.
Ganim beat Gomes by 251 votes in the September primary. Ganim then won again in the general election in November, but a judge ruled the election was void after overwhelming evidence of voter fraud in the primary.
The two Democratic candidates will square off once again on Tuesday. If Ganim wins the special primary election, the drawn-out race will be over. If Gomes wins the mayoral primary in the redo election, the city will also have to hold another general election on Feb. 27.
The criticized election is also facing a fresh round of complaints from the state.
Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas is asking the State Elections Enforcement Commission to look into 1,400 absentee ballots possibly being “illegally circulated” ahead of the revote.
The allegations stem from a photo that “appears to show a person who isn’t registered with the clerk’s office, circulating absentee ballots.”
Residents are encouraged to vote in person on Tuesday.