The Secretary of the State is calling for an investigation into Bridgeport’s mayoral primary.
It’s been less than two weeks since Bridgeport’s mayoral primary, with Mayor Joe Ganim winning narrowly against the state Sen. Marilyn Moore.
Now Secretary of the State Denise Merrill wants the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) to take a closer look.
This comes following a Connecticut Post article about irregularities with absentee ballots in Bridgeport, including some voters who say they were pressured to vote for Ganim.
Merrill sent a letter to SEEC asking members to look into the specific allegations, since her office has limited jurisdiction and no investigatory powers.
“It needs to be looked into and I'm glad they're doing it. And we don't want that in our city. We don't want it by anybody's campaign,” Ganim said.
Both Ganim and Moore say they welcome the news but split when it comes to who may be at fault.
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Moore was unavailable to speak on camera Friday, but her campaign released a statement pointing out that Ganim won most of the absentee ballots and that “the Ganim team clearly violated people’s voting rights, which is also a matter for the federal government.”
“We don't want irregularities in our city in our election process. I think the irony is we've looked at this and sources in the media told us a lot of these operatives are with the loser's campaign,” Ganim said.
SEEC declined to comment.
In addition to pushing for an investigation, the Secretary of the State said they’ll activate a corps of volunteer attorneys to ensure we are able to respond to any additional issues that may arise within the city of Bridgeport during the November General Election.
Moore will be a write-in candidate on the November ballot.
