BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – In a court hearing regarding allegations of illegal ballot box stuffing during a recent mayoral primary, a local Democratic official in Connecticut’s largest city invoked her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Wanda Geter-Pataky, vice chair of the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee, chose not to answer questions in court about her involvement in the primary. The primary resulted in incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim defeating fellow Democrat John Gomes.
One of the questions she avoided was whether she was the woman captured on surveillance footage making multiple trips to an election drop box and stuffing what appeared to be ballots.
“She is invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege,” her lawyer, John Gulash, stated during the court proceeding.
The court battle, initiated by Gomes, who is demanding a new primary or to be declared the victor, began on Thursday and will continue next week. Ganim won the primary by a margin of 251 votes out of 8,173 cast.
This legal dispute is happening just weeks before the general election on Nov. 7, in which both Ganim and Gomes will be on the ballot again.
The State Elections Enforcement Commission has also launched an investigation into potential fraud in the Bridgeport primary, prompted by security camera videos that were released soon after the votes were counted.
These videos show a woman resembling Geter-Pataky, who works as a greeter at the City Hall annex, making repeated trips to the absentee ballot drop box in the early morning of Sept. 5 and placing documents inside.
One video presented in court on Friday showed the woman celebrating with a man after he deposited potential ballots. Other videos suggest she handed documents, possibly ballots, to other individuals and escorted them to the box. Additional videos were shown featuring individuals depositing multiple ballots.
According to Connecticut law, individuals using a collection box to vote by absentee ballot must personally drop off their completed ballots or designate specific family members, police, local election officials, or caregivers to do it on their behalf.
William Bloss, Gomes’ attorney in the lawsuit, believes the videos provide evidence of widespread abuse of the absentee ballot system in Bridgeport.
Ganim, who was previously convicted of corruption but regained his mayoral position in an election after serving time in prison, denies having any knowledge of wrongdoing relating to the ballots.
In addition to Geter-Pataky, Bloss called former City Council member and current candidate Eneida Martinez to the stand. Martinez invoked her 5th Amendment right as well, refusing to answer most of the questions.
Attorney John Bailey Kennelly, representing Bridgeport Democratic Registrar of Voters Patricia Howard, one of the defendants in Gomes’ lawsuit, argues that the video evidence is insufficient to disregard the primary results.
“The exhibit consists of 24 different drops, involving only nine people. So this alleged ‘great conspiracy’ that we’ve been hearing about is not present,” Kennelly said to reporters outside the courthouse. “This exhibit, by itself, is no reason to strip the voters of Bridgeport of their rights and disenfranchise them.”
The Bridgeport case, a unique legal battle between two Democrats over election rigging allegations, has gained attention on right-wing social media platforms and far-right media, linking the controversy to claims of a stolen 2020 election. MyPillow CEO and election denier Mike Lindell’s legal defense fund recently referred to the Bridgeport controversy in a fundraising appeal.
Meanwhile, Ganim has accused the Gomes campaign of hypocrisy, claiming that some of Gomes’ campaign workers were also caught on video depositing multiple absentee ballots into drop boxes. Gomes insists that those shown in the videos were dropping off ballots for relatives after confirming with them. According to Connecticut law, certain family members, police, local election officials, or caregivers can drop off an absentee voter’s ballot.
Ganim has been subpoenaed and may testify in Gomes’ lawsuit on Tuesday.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
