Candidates, voters prepare for special mayoral primary election in Bridgeport

Voters in Bridgeport will once again cast their ballots for incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim or challenger John Gomes.

A judge ordered this special primary election after allegations of misconduct for absentee ballot mishandling.

Ganim’s camp encourages voters to continue with the city’s momentum, as Gomes’ team said no more second chances. Some voters are eager to see whether the special primary will spark any change for future elections.

At Gomes’ headquarters, campaign workers are phone banking late into the night.

“This is about restoring democracy,” John Gomes, (D) Bridgeport mayoral candidate, said.

Gomes filed the lawsuit that prompted a judge to call for Tuesday’s special mayoral primary. It comes after video surfaced in September, claiming to show a Bridgeport City Hall employee and Joe Ganim supporter making several drops into an absentee ballot box. Ganim won the primary and the general election against Gomes.

“There needs to be a serious analysis of what has happened, how we can fix it,” Gomes said. “We need to really, really look at the number of complaints coming in geographically, where they're coming from, because it's really impacting a certain minority demographic area.”

Recently, there are new accusations of Gomes’ supporters ballot harvesting.

“The hypocrisy has got to end,” Ganim said during the candidates’ final debate.

It’s a topic that came up Monday morning in that debate.

“Let's end this thing with Gomes,” Ganim told NBC Connecticut. “Let's get that phase, those of Gomes behind us, and let's continue the progress that we have going in the city of Bridgeport that helps lift everyone and will for the next four years.”

The organization Bridgeport Generation Now pushes for voter turnout, and looks forward to supporting Gomes on Tuesday.

“We're actually really happy that the primaries being done over again, because we have been plagued with absentee ballot abuse and fraud in Bridgeport in our local elections for a really long time,” Gemeem Davis, Bridgeport Generation Now Votes co-director, said.

However, Bridgeport business owner Richard DeJesus has a different take. Supporting Ganim, he said the voters have already made their voices heard.

“The outcome was what the outcome was,” DeJesus said. “It's not only a waste of time. It's a waste of taxpayer money.”

There is a new complaint ahead of this special primary that someone not registered with the town clerk’s office was circulating absentee ballot applications.

The Secretary of the State filed a complaint, and she urges people in Bridgeport to vote in-person.