Five years later, four officials are arrested filling in the ballots caught on camera

Five years of ongoing arrests have not instilled confidence in a speedy prosecution after a Connecticut town clerk was filmed allegedly stuffing ballot boxes.

(Video credit: Fox 61)

Last fall, a Constitution State judge threw out the results of Bridgeport's Democratic mayoral primary after “unprecedented” volumes of evidence, including surveillance footage, revealed that partisan operatives they had picked up the ballot for a convicted felon, incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim (D).

Now, a separate investigation dating back to 2019 has found that city employee and Democratic City Committee Vice Chair Wanda Geter-Pataky, implicated in the ballot stuffing video, was slapped with four Class D felony charges like her and three others. arrested for alleged electoral fraud.

“It's not acceptable to me that it's taking this long for justice to be served, and it makes you wonder how long it will take to investigate and ultimately prosecute what happened blatantly on camera last summer,” said the Connecticut State Senator Stephen Harding (R) a Fox 61.

In addition to Geter-Pataky, the arrests included city council member Alfredo Castillo along with campaign workers Josephine Edmunds and Nilsa Heredia.

As with the “shocking” video evidence above reported that led Superior Court Judge William Clark to order a rerun of the September 2023 Democratic primary, Geter-Pataky's arrest affidavit cited surveillance video review along with absentee ballots and interviews of witnesses to bring about the charges presented.

One such interview detailed in the affidavit led to a voter who had not requested an absentee ballot explaining, “Wanda came to my house” and “she just told me to sign the bottom of the blank application…”

This voter elaborated: “I've done this with Wanda for the past 10 years.”

“I told her I thought I should vote in person. Wanda said no…” the voter testified.

Reacting to the news of the arrests, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D), who had supported Ganim in his primary race, assured the press: “We're going to hold people accountable.”

Ganim served as Bridgeport's mayor from 1991 to 2003 when he was convicted of 16 federal charges that included extortion, bribery, mail fraud and extortion. In 2015, after serving seven years in prison, he successfully ran for mayor again.

Questioned by that endorsement in light of Geter-Pataky's alleged ballot stuffing alongside city council candidate Eneida Martínez, the governor signed a law Tuesday to require the State Elections Commission to complete investigations within 90 days and forced the cameras to cancel absentee ballots. boxes, he said, “I don't think…look. He's not being charged.”

Stated denials of concerns about the integrity of the election with the warning of no “general” electoral fraud were among the shots criticized on social media, as users remained in disbelief that it took five years to make arrests until and all with video evidence.

Five years to prosecute even with video evidence?

— Laura Hromanik (@HromanikLaura) June 16, 2024

So what should we do in November? Do you have a volunteer sitting by the mailboxes in shifts? This was on video, but it took FIVE YEARS to collect

— Becky (@BeckyNKOTB) June 16, 2024

But when the Republicans accused the Democrats of harvesting votes in 2020 and 2022, the crickets.

— DeepState Illuminate (@TheDeep_State6) June 15, 2024

What will be different this year???

— LynnBoudoir (@LynnBoudoira) June 16, 2024

So what they want to do is make a law where anyone can get an absentee ballot for any reason. Yeah, that doesn't fix anything. It makes it worse.

— AFT Agent.gum (@JJussely) June 15, 2024

Staff writer

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College, where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and seeker of truth, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and dog, and when he's not researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel ·the.

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