Connecticut Republicans Call for Secure Elections Amid Democrat Inaction

Last week, CT House and Senate Republican leaders called for bipartisan action on election security while Democrats continue to deflect and downplay the severity of the issue in our state. 

Connecticut made national headlines as four Bridgeport Democrat operatives were arrested for crimes stemming from a 2019 election. Most notably, a video from the 2023 Bridgeport mayoral election of one operative stuffing handfuls of ballots into a drop box made national headlines, see The New York Times, Fox News, and The Associated Press.

These developments are embarrassing for the city of Bridgeport, and they are embarrassing for the state of Connecticut. In response to this fact, House and Senate Republicans called upon Governor Lamont to create a bipartisan commission to ensure free and fair elections moving forward and to prevent such fraud from ever happening again. 

House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora and Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding jointly urged Governor Lamont to create a bipartisan commission that would offer a unique perspective to the clearly flawed election system in Connecticut. Their focus would be on the absentee voting process and the continued use of COVID-era ballot drop boxes. The commission would report their findings and recommendations to the Government Administration and Elections (GAE) Committee to inform legislative action.

Senator Robert Sampson and Representative Gale Mastrofrancesco detailed how election security has been a legislative priority for the Republican caucus in both chambers for years, and whenever Republicans offer solutions, Democrats have consistently rejected them along party lines. “The fact is, our elections are not secure, and we know what the problem is,” Sampson and Mastrofrancesco said.

Unfortunately, it appears as though Connecticut Democrats are prepared to dismiss the issue once again. 

Asked if Connecticut being the national spotlight for election fraud was embarrassing, CT Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas responded by saying “it’s not an embarrassment, it’s interesting,” before discussing the complexity of election law seemingly as an excuse for what happened in Bridgeport. Perhaps more concerning is that Thomas admitted that other Secretaries she had spoken to following the absentee ballot fraud in Bridgeport did not see the problem with it. 

Thomas also claimed that Bridgeport voters were not disenfranchised despite the fraud that occurred.

A joint statement from Senate President Martin Looney and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff took Democrat indifference to election fraud a step further. Their statement dismissed the bipartisan initiative to secure our elections as “attempts to restrict Connecticut residents’ ability to exercise their right to vote” pointing to “voter restrictions at the state level across the country.” These claims serve no purpose but to deflect from the real issue – we have an election fraud problem and Democrats are both unwilling and unable to fix it.