Voter fraud: Five Bridgeport, CT Democrats indicted

FPI / February 27, 2025

Five Democrat Party operatives in Bridgeport, Connecticut have been indicted on voter fraud charges related to mail-in ballots in the city's 2023 mayoral primary.

Allegations of widespread absentee ballot tampering during the 2023 Democrat mayoral primary between incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim and challenger John Gomes led to the indictments, the Connecticut Post reported on Feb. 24.

The indicted Democrats are:

• Wanda Geter-Pataky: Vice Chairperson of the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee, facing 92 separate criminal charges, including conspiracy to unlawfully possess multiple voters’ absentee ballots.

• Alfredo Castillo: City Council Member, charged with multiple counts of misrepresenting eligibility requirements for absentee voting and unlawful possession of ballots.

• Maria Pereira: City Council Member, facing charges of fraudulent voting and being present during the execution of absentee ballots.

• Jazmarie Melendez: City Council Member, charged with misrepresenting eligibility requirements for absentee voting.

• Margaret Joyce: Stratford resident and campaign staffer, accused of unlawfully possessing absentee ballots.

The investigation was launched after the Gomes campaign released a video showing a woman dropping stacks of "illegal" ballots into an absentee ballot box outside the Bridgeport government center, where the city’s Registrar of Voters office is located.

The Gomes campaign identified the woman in the footage as Geter-Pataky, a vocal supporter of incumbent Mayor Ganim. The Gomes campaign claimed that the video shows Geter-Pataky dropping off stacks of absentee ballots ahead of the Sept. 12, 2023 primary.

Ganim won the primary by a narrow margin of 251 votes. But the vote was subsequently overturned by a state Superior Court judge due to compelling evidence of “blatant” ballot harvesting and fraud.

This judicial intervention led to a court-ordered rerun of the primary and general elections, both of which were again won by Ganim.

The Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft noted: "The five indicted Democrats were released on promises to appear in court on March 6—a laughable slap on the wrist considering the gravity of their crimes. Will there be real accountability, or will the left’s political machine protect its own?"

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