June 20, 2024

House and Senate Republicans Call on Governor to Form Bipartisan Commission to Improve Election Security

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HARTFORD—House and Senate Republicans on Thursday called upon Governor Lamont to immediately establish a bipartisan commission focused on reviewing and making recommendations to improve the security of Connecticut’s absentee ballot process.

The request from Republicans marks their latest effort to bolster the integrity of state elections in the shadow of allegations of ballot fraud and other illegal campaign-related activity in Bridgeport. On June 11, four individuals were arrested in connection with 2019 ballot fraud allegations there, and probes continue into 2023 allegations sparked by a video of a campaign operative stuffing ballots into a drop box outside of a municipal center. Consequently, Bridgeport has made national headlines.

Republicans have driven the conversation in the General Assembly on issues tied to election integrity, with Senate and House Ranking Members of the Government Administration and Elections (GAE) Committee, Sen. Rob Sampson and Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, providing proposals and passionate arguments to safeguard the absentee voting process.

“We have repeatedly offered solutions to secure our elections and the Democrats have consistently rejected them along party lines. As if we needed more confirmation that there is a problem, we’ve now seen four Bridgeport Democrat operatives finally arrested for absentee ballot fraud dating back to 2019. The fact is, our elections are not secure and we know what the problem is,” Sampson and Mastrofrancesco said. “At the same time, the Governor is distracting with Ranked Choice Voting instead of using his bully pulpit to help solve the problem. It is time that legislative Democrats join us to prevent more voter disenfranchisement in our cities and towns.”

“Given everything that has transpired in Bridgeport, and the many unresolved questions there, it’s easy to understand why Connecticut residents are worried about holes in our election system that allow bad actors to thrive without fear of harsh consequences,” House and Senate Republican Leaders Vincent Candelora and Stephen Harding said. “Governor Lamont just formed a bipartisan commission to explore introducing a new method of choosing candidates. At the very least, this crisis in confidence in our existing election system demands the same amount of his attention that he’s giving Ranked Choice Voting.”

Candelora and Harding said the Governor should form a bipartisan commission whose mission is to focus on the absentee ballot process as well as the use of ballot drop boxes to develop fresh perspectives outside of the heavy workload of the General Assembly’s standard committee process. The goal, the Republican leaders said, would be for the panel to report its findings and recommendations to the GAE Committee for possible action in the next legislative session.

In addition to appointees from the Governor, Candelora and Harding said the commission should feature state legislators, a representative from the Office of the Secretary of the State as well as the Registrar of Voters Association of Connecticut. The commission would have no shortage of initial concepts to ponder.

Over the last few years, Republicans have voiced concern about the integrity of the state’s electoral process. Various controversies related to the topic have shown the worry is justified, such as:

In 2015, former Bridgeport state Rep. Christina Ayala received a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to election laws violations, including fabricating evidence related to her residence;
In 2022, a Democrat party official in Stamford was sentenced to two years’ probation after pleading guilty to charges stemming from absentee ballot fraud;
In August 2023, regulators recommended criminal charges for three individuals, driven by a media investigation into alleged absentee ballot violations during Bridgeport’s 2019 Democrat primary, which resulted in recent arrests;
In September 2023, alleged stuffing of ballot drop boxes was caught on video in Bridgeport, triggering an eventual redo of the mayoral primary and a criminal investigation.