Governor, whose side are you on?
As strong advocates for voting rights and democracy, we were deeply disappointed to read of Gov.
Ned Lamont’s endorsement of Joe Ganim in Bridgeport’s special election for mayor. Ganim’s campaign was caught on video surveillance breaking the laws governing absentee balloting, which is the reason why Bridgeport voters returned to the polls Feb. 27. A judge was forced to order a new election, based on this “shocking” evidence, which is unprecedented in Connecticut’s history! Sadly, this abuse of Bridgeport voters is not new, it goes back decades as was reported in the New York Times article from Jan. 21, “Election Fraud Is Rare. Except, Maybe, in Bridgeport, Conn.”
We cannot support candidates who repeatedly violate election laws and abuse democracy to hold onto power. It goes against everything that we stand for as Americans. And frankly, it puts the governor on the wrong side of history. Democracy is being threatened at home and abroad. Now more than ever we need brave, courageous leaders willing to protect it at all costs — and not simply go along with party, machine politics. That is exactly what the right wing has done with Donald Trump, and we know Gov. Lamont has more personal integrity than that.
In fact, we were part of the coalition that watched and cheered as he signed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act into law last year, which protects historically disenfranchised communities from discrimination at the ballot box. Just like Southern racists did during Jim Crow — and MAGA supporters are doing now across the country — the tactics that the Ganim campaign and his political operatives engage in are meant to suppress and steal the votes of Black, brown, low-income, and monolingual Spanish-speaking voters. We didn’t stand for it in 1965 and we will not tolerate it in 2024. The governor should stand with the Black and Latino voters of Bridgeport.
We do believe, however, it is important for the governor to take a position on this issue. Noexcuse absentee voting (NEAV) will be on our ballots come November and we are very concerned that the election abuse in
Bridgeport (which has now made international news) may get in the way of its success. If leadership doesn’t come out strongly with a plan, it opens up the door for opponents of NEAV to use Bridgeport as an example for why it shouldn’t pass.
Therefore, we strongly encourage Governor Lamont, Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas, and the entire state legislature to make meaningful absentee ballot reform a priority this session. It is, in part, because of how restrictive and peculiar Connecticut’s laws governing absentee ballots are that is leading to all this abuse and fraud. We must change state law to remove partisan operatives from the absentee ballot process. No one should be allowed to walk into the town clerk’s office and walk out with hundreds of absentee ballot applications. Absentee voting should be strictly between voters and election officials, as was
recommended by the judge in 2019 in Lazar v. Ganim, and as is done in other states. For more details on this position, please see this petition by Bridgeport Generation Now: https://www.change.org/p/i-support-absentee-ballot-reform-it-stime-to-end-the-abuse-in-bridgeport
The people of Bridgeport need to know that our votes and our voices are being taken seriously by everyone, regardless of political party. We can restore trust in our elections and protect our democracy. But only if we have leaders who are brave enough to do so.
Callie Gale Heilmann is co-director and Gemeem Davis is president and co-director of Bridgeport Generation Now Votes, which works to increase voter turnout in our local elections, strengthen democracy, and protect voting rights through grassroots organizing, legislation, and litigation.
No-excuse absentee voting (NEAV) will be on our ballots come November and we are very concerned that the election abuse in Bridgeport (which has now made international news) may get in the way of its success