by Jamil Ragland CTNewsJunkie
HARTFORD, CT – The Chief State’s Attorney announced Tuesday afternoon that four campaign workers involved in the 2019 Bridgeport Democratic mayoral primary have been charged in connection with the misuse of absentee ballots.
Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin has charged Alfredo Castillo, 52, Wanda Geter-Pataky, 67, Nilsa Heredia, 61, and Josephine Edmonds, 62, all of Bridgeport, with unlawful possession of absentee ballots and other election-related violations. Three of the four suspects also are charged with tampering with a witness. All four defendants were released on promises to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on June 24.
According to the Chief’s State’s Attorney’s office, Geter-Pataky is accused of failing to sign as an assister on an absentee ballot application that she had filled out on behalf of a prospective voter. Geter-Pataky is also charged with misrepresenting eligibility requirements for voting by absentee ballot for reportedly telling a citizen not to vote in person and that she would pick up the citizen’s absentee ballot. The citizen later told investigators with the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) that the defendant told her not to speak to anyone about the matter.
Heredia is accused of instructing prospective voters on which candidate to select on their absentee ballots and misrepresented eligibility requirements for voting by absentee ballot. It also says she admitted to investigators that she did not submit an absentee ballot distribution list to the City of Bridgeport Clerk’s Office.
Castillo is accused of failing to maintain an absentee ballot distribution list, misrepresenting eligibility requirements for voting by absentee ballot, and failing to sign as an assister on an absentee ballot application in August 2019. Castillo denied helping the prospective voter fill out the application, but later admitted he had filled out portions of the application.
Edmonds is accused of being present when four prospective voters filled out their absentee ballots and took possession of them when she left their home. She is also accused of failing to maintain an absentee ballot distribution list and tampering with a witness for having told her not to testify truthfully in court.
“Integrity of our voting process is vital to our democracy,” Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said in a release. “I appreciate the attention and time the Statewide Prosecution Bureau put into these investigations. I hope these prosecutions will send a message that deters tampering with election results in the future in Connecticut.”
In the nearly five years since those incidents are alleged to have taken place, Bridgeport’s election processes have been plagued with additional allegations of misconduct. In September 2023, video was obtained that allegedly shows a city employee and Joe Ganim supporter placing several absentee ballots into a ballot box on the morning of Sept. 12, the date of the Democratic mayoral primary between Ganim and John Gomes.
A redo of the primary was ordered for January 2024, but that election was also marred by allegations of impropriety. The Office of the Secretary of the State issued referrals to the SEEC in March regarding allegations that voters received absentee ballots they did not request, election workers collecting absentee ballots, workers offering cash in return for completed absentee ballots, and suspicious activities at absentee voter drop boxes.
In a joint statement released this afternoon, Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, and Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, the ranking member on the Government Administration and Elections Committee, accused Democrats of resisting any changes to election law that would hold bad actors accountable.
“Five years. That’s how long it has taken for these arrests to be made,” the state from Harding and Sampson reads. “Now do Democrats want to pass real election reforms for Connecticut? Because let’s face it: They saw the videos from 2023. We all did. Repeated, blatant, brazen ballot box stuffing in Bridgeport, all caught on tape. In the pre-dawn hours. In the middle of the day. At multiple locations in the city. The videos went viral. They made national news. Superior Court Judge William Clark wrote that the videos ‘are shocking to the court and should be shocking to all the parties.’”
Nancy DiNardo, chair for the Connecticut Democratic Party, released a statement regarding today’s charges.
“Connecticut’s state law is very clear about how to handle absentee ballots,” DiNardo wrote. “As we have said, if people have broken the law, they must face consequences. The Connecticut Democrats respect the findings of the State’s Attorney’s office and the legal process. The four individuals involved will have their day in court.”