Connecticut lawmakers fixed a legislative glitch to allow the Secretary of the State to appoint an election monitor for upcoming elections in Bridgeport.
The move was made during a special legislative session on Tuesday.
Lawmakers initially provided for an election monitor for Bridgeport following Mayor Joe Ganim’s controversial win by absentee ballot in the city’s Democratic primary four years ago.
An error in this year’s budget placed the money for the monitor in the state elections enforcement agency instead of the Secretary of the State’s office.
The fix means an election monitor will now be in place to oversee Bridgeport elections, said State Representative Matt Blumenthal, co-chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee.
“And they can demand to see at any point any record, any facility, any system or computer, and if they find any discrepancy they can notify the Secretary of the State’s office,” he said.
The move is in response to surveillance video that shows a Ganim supporter allegedly stuffing an absentee ballot box in Bridgeport's Sept. 12 Democratic primary for mayor.
Ganim won that election based on the mail-in vote count. His win is facing a challenge in Superior Court for the second time in four years.
