OPINION: Everyone wants clean elections…except CT Democrats.

If you had the chance to ensure that no fraud occurred in Connecticut elections, would you?

Recently, I witnessed 94 of my Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives vote against a chance to restore integrity in our elections. Surprised? Don’t be. It was actually the second time in the same week that the majority of House Democrats voted against ensuring honesty in our statewide election process.

The Democrat’s first missed opportunity occurred when I proposed a logical amendment that would eliminate the use of absentee ballot drop boxes throughout Connecticut. Spoiler alert: it found little Democrat support.

Even if you have never used them, you have probably seen them. They were installed during the pandemic as a last-minute way to ensure voting accessibility during a nationwide emergency.

Despite the COVID-19 emergency being over and with the recent implementation of early voting for two weeks, drop boxes still unnecessarily exist. You can either find them by your town hall, or more famously in the viral security camera footage documenting Wanda Geter-Pataky stuffing absentee ballots into a drop box to sway the 2023 Bridgeport Mayoral Primary election.

Let’s not forget that even after Wanda committed election fraud for a second time in her career, she did not receive jail time. Instead, she was reelected Vice Chair to the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee.

That’s where we come to the Democrat’s second missed opportunity. On a bill dealing with prosecuting election crimes, I proposed another amendment demanding minimum prison sentences for offenders of certain election crimes, which was also voted down by Democrats.

The Bottom Line: When Democrats killed these amendments, they killed our only chance at rebuilding trust in our elections.

We need to get serious about election integrity in Connecticut. Every time that election fraud happens, like it did in Bridgeport, voters become disenfranchised, and we begin to lose faith in the process. As lawmakers, we have a duty to our constituents to reverse this trend.

My advice: don’t wait for Democrats to get the picture. Make your voice heard this November before your vote becomes meaningless.