Elections monitor hired for Bridgeport ahead of primaries
BRIDGEPORT — Just ahead of Tuesday’s hotly contested Democratic primaries for City Council, the Secretary of the State’s Office has assigned a watchdog to keep an eye on elections in Connecticut’s largest city for the next two years.
Attorney Jon Chase, who is based out of the Mystic area along the southeastern shoreline, “was hired on Wednesday and the notice went out to Bridgeport election officials Thursday morning,” said Gabe Rosenberg, spokesman for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill.
As the city’s new elections monitor — the $150,000 position was funded in the state budget passed in June — Chase, who could not immediately be reached for this story, will essentially be Merrill’s deputy in Bridgeport, answering questions, mediating disputes and forwarding any issues to her office or the State Elections Enforcement Commission.
“My understanding is he will be in Bridgeport this afternoon,” Rosenberg said Thursday. “It’s basically like having a member of our office in Bridgeport. He will be able to aid the local election officials in interpreting the law . ... He’s right there and can help them on the spot. And if he sees anything that shouldn’t be happening, he’s there to say, ‘This isn’t what the law says you’re supposed to do. This is the way the law reads.’”
Chase will also be available in the hours and days after the polls close Tuesday at 8 p.m. and mail-in votes and in-person ballots
are being counted should any problems arise or there be questions about particularly close outcomes.
“Everyone who works in elections knows it doesn’t end Election Day,” Rosenberg said.
Given Democrats dominate Bridgeport politics, primaries are typically more consequential than the November general elections. There are contests next week in eight of the 10 council districts — all the 29 candidates Democrats — as well as for the Board of Education and for the sheriffs.
The state budgeted for Chase’s position after a similar monitor — Bridgeport-based
lawyer and former school board member Max Medina — was used successfully during last year’s presidential election when some of the restrictions governing who can apply for mail-in or absentee ballots were lifted as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Medina was paid using federal COVID-19 relief funds.
“This is a particularly complicated year because of the legislature extending a lot of the COVID (voting) changes from last year,” Rosenberg noted.
Chase’s role is also modeled on a similar monitor assigned in 2015 to Hartford after problems at the polls in the capital city in
2014.
Bridgeport has experienced several high-profile voting controversies of its own, from 2010’s gubernatorial race when the city ran short of ballots, to frequent allegations of absentee ballot abuses.
The SEEC is still investigating alleged absentee ballot improprieties during 2019’s mayoral primary battle between incumbent Joe Ganim and state Sen. Marilyn Moore. And most recently Councilman Michael DeFilippo was arrested in late July on multiple election fraud charges dating back to his 2017 primary. DeFilippo has since resigned from his seat.
Moore in 2019 had the backing of some of the key members of Bridgeport Generation Now, a civic group that also has a political offshoot, Generation Now Votes. Merrill’s office has previously credited the latter with successfully lobbying this year for the funds to keep an elections monitor in Bridgeport for two years.
Gemeem Davis, a leader of Generation Now, said Thursday, “We’re certainly glad the elections monitor has been hired.”
Noting, however, how close it is to Tuesday, Davis said, “This appointment should have come much earlier.”
Rosenberg said once the $150,000 became available July 1, the start of the new fiscal year, Merrill’s office began searching for someone to fill the elections monitor position.
Medina, hired just over two weeks before last November’s general election, was no longer available because he has been appointed a Superior Court judge.
“Some people reached out to us and we reached out,” Rosenberg said of the search for a new monitor. “It’s a fairly small community of attorneys who have experience with this type of law.” He also noted the time commitment and willingness to travel to Bridgeport were factors.
Medina was well-versed in Bridgeport politics having served on the school board, then as a courtappointed elections monitor in the 2017 primary at the heart of the federal charges against DeFilippo. That election was ultimately held three times between the summer of 2017 and early 2018 after the losers took the matter to court and Judge Chase Rogers determined the voting process had been twice corrupted.
Medina in 2019 was also the lawyer for Moore’s unsuccessful mayoral bid against Ganim when the former accused the latter’s campaign of absentee ballot abuses still being scrutinized by the SEEC.
While Chase does not have Medina’s familiarity with Bridgeport, Rosenberg said, “There is some value to having someone who hasn’t been involved (in local politics) . ... One of the things that worked well in Hartford was someone coming in from the outside.”
Even though Chase has been assigned to Bridgeport for two years, the money for his position will run out and have to be re-funded in time for the next crucial race to determine the city’s future — 2023’s mayoral contest.