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The mayor of Connecticut‘s largest city could lose his job next month when voters return to the polls for a court-ordered redo of the Democratic primary.
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim was reelected in the general election in November, but a judge ruled that there was “shocking” evidence of ballot harvesting, when a third party collects and returns many ballots, enough for a redo of the Democratic primary, which took place in September. If Ganim does not win the nomination next month, the town will have another mayoral general election in February, with his opponent as the nominee.
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Video surveillance of a Ganim supporter showed them appear to drop stacks of absentee ballots into a drop box. Connecticut has strict laws regarding who can turn in someone else’s ballot, but ballot harvesting itself is illegal.
“I own the fact that the court found people connected with my campaign engaged in serious voting irregularities,” Ganim told reporters in December, according to the Connecticut Mirror. But he also demanded his opponent, John Gomes, admit “multiple people associated with his campaign engaged in clearly unlawful ballot behavior in the primary as well.”
Gomes has denied that anyone in his campaign has done anything illegal, claiming the city has not provided any evidence of wrongdoing by his campaign or supporters, even after they were subpoenaed.
“The City defendants could have compelled their testimony and they voluntarily chose not to do so,” Gomes told NBC News. “The City defendants could have introduced any relevant video and also chose not to do so during the court hearing. In fact, they withdrew their defense that the Gomes campaign committed misconduct, and did not raise it in any post-trial briefing.”
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The race is one of three election do-overs that have occurred this year or will occur next year. Election redos are historically rare, but one in Wisconsin occurred in November over a nonpartisan town chair contest, which had irregularities in a tight race that came down to a one-vote margin of victory. The other redo election will be a sheriff’s race in Louisiana.
Connecticut’s Democratic primary redo will take place on Jan. 23, 2023. Ganim, who has served seven terms as the mayor, won in September by 251 votes.
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