Mayor denies talk with woman accused of ballot-stuffing

The mayor of Connecticut’s largest city denied under oath Tuesday ever discussing absentee ballots with a campaign volunteer who resembles a woman seen on surveillance video stuffing papers into a dropbox multiple times before the mayoral primary.

In a court hearing, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim tried to distance himself from Wanda Geter-Pataky, a local Democratic official and supporter who has been accused by Ganim’s opponent of absentee ballot fraud in connection with Ganim’s narrow victory in September’s primary. Last week, Geter-Pataky refused to say whether she was the woman seen on surveillance footage making multiple trips to an election dropbox and stuffing papers that looked like ballots in it.

Ganim also testified that he did not talk to Geter-Pataky about handling absentee ballots differently after state elections officials investigating allegations of absentee ballot fraud in Ganim’s 2019 primary referred her and two others with ties to his campaign to state prosecutors.

“I had no discussions with her,” said Ganim, a Democrat. He also testified that he did not ask his paid campaign staff to instruct Geter-Pataky, the vice chair of the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee, to do anything differently.

Ganim won the Sept. 12 mayoral primary by 251 votes out of 8,173 cast, with absentee ballots giving him his margin of victory. The results are being challenged by his opponent John Gomes, who is seeking a new primary or to be declared the winner.

Ganim said in court that he was “shocked by what appeared in the videos” released by Gomes’ campaign shortly after the primary. However, he said he does not know if Geter-Patakay actually mishandled ballots.

The State Elections Enforcement Commission is investigating this latest primary after receiving multiple complaints.

Ganim, who was convicted of corruption during his first stint as mayor but won his old job back in an election after his release from prison, has repeatedly denied any knowledge of wrongdoing related to ballots and has raised concerns about other videos that he says show Gomes’ campaign workers dropping in multiple pieces of paper resembling ballots.

Under Connecticut law, people using a collection box to vote by absentee ballot must drop off their completed ballots themselves or designate certain family members, police, local election officials or a caregiver to do it for them.

Gomes, who has said his campaign workers followed state law, is asking a judge to order a new primary. He said multiple videos prove that there was absentee ballot fraud during the Sept. 12 primary. No matter the judge’s ruling, Gomes will still appear on the November ballot as an independent candidate.

News of the Bridgeport videos has spread through right-wing social media platforms and on far-right media, connecting the controversy to the 2020 stolen election claims.

Last week, Geter-Patakay, who is suspended from her job as a greeter at the city hall annex, invoked her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination multiple times rather than answer questions in court about allegations of illegal ballot box-stuffing, including whether she was the woman seen on surveillance footage.

City Council member and current candidate Eneida Martinez also declined last week to answer whether she appeared in an additional batch of videos Gomes’ lawyer William Bloss showed in court of a woman and other people depositing multiple pieces of paper that resembled absentee ballots into a dropbox.

Bloss said there were 1,253 absentee ballots cast in the Sept. 12 primary, but he and his staff identified 428 individuals “at most” who deposited ballots in the dropboxes after reviewing hours of surveillance video. Some of the videos showed workers visiting the boxes to pick up ballots but found that there were none.

The court hearing is scheduled to resume Thursday. That’s when Bloss is expected to wrap up his case, allowing the various defense lawyers to begin presenting their arguments. Judge William Clark said he hopes to issue a decision in about two weeks.