In a case we've been following here at PJ Media, operatives openly stuffed ballot boxes in the recent Democrat primary for Mayor of Bridgeport, Conn. "Maybe This Latest Blatant Ballot Box Stuffing Scandal Will Be the Last Straw," I titled my previous article on the case. For once, my wistful optimism has come true.
Not that the Bridgeport situation is unusual — videos of people breaking ballot harvesting laws and cramming boxes full of ballots of dubious origins are by now commonplace. Also commonplace is the disheartening lack of any action ever taken either to prosecute the lawbreakers or to remedy the corruption of "Our Sacred Democracy's" election process.
Naturally, Democrats persist in the practice. Why wouldn't they? And one of the many reasons why action isn't taken to fix it when they're caught is because it's difficult to remedy the situation after the fact. It's immensely disruptive to overturn the results of an election. Democrats know this and have menaced the bulk of the legal system into submission whenever the subject is raised. Furthermore, one need look no further than the rampant prosecution of former President Trump and his attorneys and allies who sought legal remedy to "irregularities" in the 2020 Election to see what happens to Republicans who dare question flagrant illegal ballot harvesting.
But now — in a dark blue city in deep blue Connecticut, of all places — a judge has shown everyone how to remedy a compromised election. Maybe he was able to do this because all the players involved are Democrats; I don't know, and frankly, I don't care. Wrong is wrong and fraud is fraud. The important thing is that, with this judge's ruling, unfairly defeated candidates across the country who bring evidence of illegal ballot harvesting or other fraud now have a decision and a process to point to when they seek redress in the courts. That's huge.
The background to this case is that, in Bridgeport's Democrat mayoral primary on Sept. 12, challenger John Gomes was ahead of incumbent Joe Ganim (a felon who has served time for corruption) after the Election Day machine count. But after Bridgeport's famous "midnight magic," Ganim "won" by 251 votes. Shortly thereafter, video emerged of a Ganim ally, Wanda Geter-Pataky, stuffing a ballot box with mad stacks of votes. And to his credit, Gomes refused to be railroaded and vowed to fight.
Read my initial report on the case: Maybe This Latest Blatant Ballot Box Stuffing Scandal Will Be the Last Straw
Connecticut state law directs that only voters, their caretakers, or their close relatives can place absentee ballots in drop boxes. On the "John Gomes for Mayor" Facebook page on Oct. 13, the campaign posted a video that could easily have been clipped from the seminal film "2000 Mules." The footage clearly shows multiple Ganim actors running a criminal ballot-harvesting and box-stuffing operation:
Unlike with "2000 Mules," though, this video is being promoted by a Democrat, and one with sufficient melanin levels to be taken seriously. (And yes, I hate it that I have become so cynical, yet here we are.)
On Wednesday, Connecticut Superior Court Judge William Clark ruled in favor of Gomes and ordered a new primary. "The court finds the plaintiff has met its burden of proof and established violations in the placing of absentee ballots into drop boxes by partisans who were not designated to handle such ballots and that the volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the result of the primary election in serious doubt and leaves the court unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary," wrote Clark in his judgment.
The remedy is, unfortunately, cumbersome and indirect, but it is a blueprint nonetheless. Judge Clark acknowledged that he doesn't have the authority to postpone the general election on Nov. 7, so that will go on as planned. Westfair Business Journal explains what happens next:
The judge ordered the Gomes and Ganim campaigns to meet with city election officials in the next 10 days to determine when the new primary will be held, with a deadline of Nov. 17 for an answer back to the court.
However, the ruling does not postpone next Tuesday’s election, nor did it void the primary’s results.
Gomes is on the ballot for the Bridgeport mayor’s race as a third-party candidate. If Ganim wins the election in the heavily-Democratic city and wins the new primary, he would remain as mayor. If Ganim wins the election but loses the primary, a new election would take place. Gomes said he would withdraw his case if he wins the election on Tuesday.
"Maybe — just maybe — John Gomes will be the one who finally insists on election integrity and gets the ball rolling back toward trustworthy elections!" I wrote wistfully in September. And God bless him, the mad lad has done it; he's forced the courts to intervene and override the corrupt primary election results. Godspeed, Mr. Gomes! If anyone deserves to be Mayor of Bridgeport, it's you.
The only thing that would make this victory sweeter would be prosecution of the illegal ballot harvesters.
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