The redo Democratic primary for mayor in Bridgeport is on Tuesday.
The state is monitoring the election to ensure that there’s no absentee ballot abuse, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas told members of the religious advocacy group Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut, or CONECT, on Sunday.
Thomas said the two state-appointed election monitors placed in Bridgeport have been in constant contact with her office to oversee the absentee ballot process and make sure any irregularities are reported to the State Election Enforcement Commission.
“They can do spot training when they see something happening that is not a best practice,' Thomas said. "Which they’ve done. They’ve looked in detail at supervised absentee ballot locations and we’ve been able to go to additional buildings.”
“We've got law school volunteers making spot-check calls to voters. We have 14 lawyers who will be on the ground on election day,” she added.
The redo election was ordered by a Superior Court judge after Mayor Joe Ganim’s victory over challenger John Gomes in the city’s September Democratic primary, was found to have been marred by absentee ballot drop box stuffing that was caught on city surveillance videos.
