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By Kristi Talmadge
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal stated during a recent MSNOW appearance discussing the SAVE Act that there is “no factual basis at all to believe that mail-in ballots are somehow fraught with fraud” and “not a scintilla of evidence” exists to support such claims. A review of court records, arrest warrants, and state investigations in Bridgeport, and several other Connecticut cities, however, shows many cases of alleged absentee ballot misuse spanning several election cycles, along with documented delays in enforcement by the SEEC and State Attorney, followed by limited legislative responses.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy has also railed against election-integrity bills, including the Federal SAVE Act, emphatically declaring there is no fraud and Republicans are trying to rig elections by attempting to pass them. He also lies and uses scare tactics to tell Women they will not be allowed to register to vote if their last name does not match the name on their birth certificate. That is not true. All you need is to also have a copy of your marriage certificate or license with your legal name change. These documents are available to order copies of to most people online or at their local city clerk's office.
There is a plethora of evidence to refute both Senators' claims showing that election-integrity is seriously lacking in Connecticut. Both Senators and other statewide elected Democratic Party officials may have also benefited from absentee ballot fraud and potentially from noncitizens being registered to vote in the state through the Department of Motor Vehicles, or by corrupt Democratic Party operatives like Alfredo Castillo.
Contrary to Connecticut Democratic Leaders claims, Bridgeport Councilman Castillo has implicated the wider state Democratic Party and elected leaders in encouraging the absentee ballot and election fraud, including registering non-citizens to vote, for which he is now facing felony charges.
During one of his initial court appearances in March of 2025, Castillo told a News 12 Reporter, “It's just not fair.”
Castillo: “The lead bosses tell us to do the work, and we do and then we get criminalized. And it’s just not fair.”
Reporter: “Alfredo, when you say the ‘lead bosses,’ who is telling you to do this?”
Castillo: “The [Sen. Chris] Murphys. Everybody, all the Democrats.”
Reporter: “What about Joe Ganim?”
Castillo: “Yeah, he's our mayor.”
Mass absentee ballot fraud by Bridgeport's Democratic Town Committee Vice Chair, Wanda Geter-Pataky, was caught on video in 2023 and made National news, including on Jesse Watters' Fox News program and the New York Times. Watters’s coverage led to Geter-Pataky being nicknamed “Wanda the Ballot Stuffer” on news programs and Social Media sites. Connecticut Democrats' insistence that there is no election fraud despite this National coverage begs the question of what else they may be hiding.
Bridgeport, Connecticut’s largest city with a population of around 150,000 residents, has been the focal point of these absentee ballot and election fraud matters. At the center of the city’s Democratic Party political operations is Mario Testa, chairman of the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee since 1992, sans a 4-year lapse from 2003, following Mayor Joe Ganim's conviction, through 2008 when Testa again successfully ran for the Bridgeport DTC Chairman Position.
Testa has long been a key figure in local and statewide Democratic politics, often coordinating endorsements for candidates including Mayor Joseph Ganim both before and after his felony corruption conviction. Ganim, who has served as mayor for multiple terms, was convicted in federal court in 2003 on sixteen counts of racketeering, extortion, and bribery. Offenses that involved organized and white-collar criminal activity during his earlier tenure.
Joe Ganim was incarcerated from September 2003 until July 2010, and his period of court-ordered supervision ended in July 2013. Following his release from federal prison, Mario Testa again supported Joe Ganim as the Bridgeport Democratic Party Mayor candidate leading him to winning the mayoral election again, despite his convictions during his previous terms as mayor, in 2015.
Critics have alleged that Testa behaves more like an organized crime boss than a political operative and exerts significant influence over the local and state party apparatus, including pressuring statewide Democratic leaders to support Ganim's mayoral candidacies following his release from prison.
We often hear Connecticut’s Congressional delegation lash out at President Donald Trump accusing him of corruption, but several members including Senators Richard Blumenthal, Chris Murphy and Representative Jim Himes endorsed convicted felon Joe Ganim for Bridgeport Mayor following his release in prison in 2019, and again in 2024. Connecticut's Democrat Governor Ned Lamont and Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz also endorsed Ganim in and 2024.
There are even pictures from 2022 of Bridgeport Councilman Alfredo Castilllo, who is one of many Democrats charged with absentee ballot fraud, kissing Mario Testa's ring at one of the party's celebrations.
A 2023 complaint questioned whether Testa maintained bona fide residency in Bridgeport while actively participating in city elections and party affairs. The State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) investigated and dismissed the complaint in late 2024, concluding that he resides in the city because he purchased an apartment in 2022. One of his neighbors who made the complaint claimed he did not live there but rather lived full time at his home in Monroe, Connecticut. Monroe is a much wealthier town than Bridgeport.
Documented Cases of Alleged Absentee Ballot Misconduct (2015–2023)
State and federal authorities have brought charges against more than a dozen individuals, all affiliated with the Democratic Party or working on Democratic campaigns, for alleged violations involving absentee ballots in municipal elections. The cases below are presented in chronological order by the election year involved covering the past 11 years.
Bridgeport 2019 and 2023 Primaries
The majority of absentee ballot and election fraud cases in Bridgeport revolve around elections in which Bridgeport's organized crime felon mayor, Joe Ganim, was running. Joe Ganim was first elected mayor of Bridgeport in 1991, serving 12 years until his resignation in 2003 following his organized crime corruption conviction.
In the 2019 Democratic mayoral primary, incumbent Joseph Ganim defeated challenger Marilyn Moore. A subsequent lawsuit filed by voters alleged widespread irregularities in the handling of absentee ballots. Ganim won the primary by only 270 votes. The trial court described aspects of the absentee ballot process as “illegal and disturbing,” citing paid workers distributing ballots without proper documentation and instances of improper handling. Despite these documented absentee ballot irregularities, the court declined to order a new primary, finding that plaintiffs had not proven they were sufficient to change the outcome. The Connecticut Supreme Court also affirmed that ruling in 2019.
The 2023 Democratic mayoral primary between Ganim and challenger John Gomes drew renewed scrutiny after surveillance video from city drop boxes appeared to show multiple individuals, including DTC Vice Chair Wanda Geter-Pataky, depositing multiple ballots at once. A Superior Court judge invalidated the results of that election and ordered a redo election. More than 1,000 absentee ballots were flagged as potentially questionable. Criminal arrests related to both the 2019 and 2023 primaries did not begin until June 2024 and continued into 2025.
State Elections Enforcement Commission Handling of Complaints
The SEEC, Connecticut’s primary agency for investigating election law violations, has faced criticism of the length of time required to process complaints from Bridgeport. Referrals involving 2019 activities were not acted upon with arrests until June 2024, nearly five years later, and only after national media coverage of surveillance footage. An independent audit of the SEEC released in 2025 noted significant delays in completing post-election reviews, with some reports issued more than a year later. Additional complaints from 2023 and 2024 were referred to the Chief State’s Attorney for criminal investigation, but many remain pending as of February 2026.
Lax Voter Identification Requirements and Inadequate Measures to Prevent Non-Citizen Voter Registration
Connecticut maintains relatively permissive voter identification rules. State law does not require photo identification at the polls. Poll workers may request identification, but voters who do not present acceptable documents may instead sign an affidavit affirming their identity. Voter registration similarly relies on self-attestation: applicants must affirm under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens, but the state does not require documentary proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate or passport.
U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for the period from April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2025, show a net international migration gain of 110,143 individuals to Connecticut. During the same time frame, the state’s native-born population decreased by 27,919. This figure does not include foreign nationals already residing in Connecticut prior to April 2020, which was estimated to be near 600,000; some of the 600,000 here prior to 2020 have gained green cards (not allowed to vote in Federal elections) or naturalized citizenship status (allowed to vote).
In this demographic context, questions have arisen about the effectiveness of existing safeguards against non-citizen registration and voting.
A prominent example occurred in Bridgeport in October 2024. A complaint was filed with the Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission alleging that City Councilman Alfredo Castillo assisted a non-U.S. Citizen, Arianna Hernandez, a legal permanent resident, in registering to vote and obtaining an absentee ballot for the 2023 Democratic mayoral primary. The complaint states that Hernandez informed Castillo she was not a U.S. citizen, yet he allegedly proceeded to help her complete the paperwork.
Castillo has faced multiple criminal charges and referrals related to election matters, including the 2019 and 2023 primary incidents involving absentee ballots. In a February 2025 interview with Only in Bridgeport following his arrest on related charges, he stated:
“I’m innocent. I’m following the orders of the Democratic Party. This is what they tell us to do, get out the vote. Then we get criminalized."
“Our job is to get out the vote. We’re loyal. Always the foot soldiers get whacked and then everyone benefits – Ganim, Lamont, Blumenthal, Murphy, Himes. Then it’s thank you, we’ll see you in four years.”
When asked how he verified the voter’s eligibility, Castillo replied: “How am I supposed to know? She gave me a social security number.”
The presence of a Social Security number does not confirm U.S. citizenship. Federal rules permit many lawfully present non-citizens to obtain Social Security numbers. Eligible categories include:
Since 2017, the Social Security Administration’s Enumeration Beyond Entry (EBE) program has automatically issued Social Security numbers to certain non-citizens upon approval of work authorization or adjustment of status by the Department of Homeland Security, without requiring a separate application.
When registering for a Real ID Driver's license Foreign Nationals are allowed to use a Form I-766 (Employment Authorization Document/EAD) as their primary document, which many of them have.
These elements, minimal identification requirements at registration and polling, reliance on self-attestation, routine issuance of Social Security numbers to non-citizens, and documented cases such as the Bridgeport matter illustrate the current framework’s limitations in verifying voter eligibility.
Legislative Response in the 2025 Session
The Democrat super majority-controlled Connecticut General Assembly considered several bills in 2025, mostly pushed by the Republican minority, aimed at strengthening absentee ballot safeguards, including longer disqualification periods for individuals convicted of election crimes, enhanced drop-box security, and stricter verification requirements.
These measures did not pass.
The legislature instead enacted more limited changes effective January 1, 2025, requiring municipalities to install video surveillance at absentee ballot drop boxes and to track the method of ballot return.
Broader proposals mirroring aspects of the federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, such as enhanced proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal elections, have been discussed but not advanced at the state level. It is apparent that state Democrats have no desire to implement such safeguards, considering the pushback the SAVE Act is getting from Democrat leaders, including Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas.
In previous years, Democratic Legislators have signaled support for allowed noncitizens to vote in municipal and state elections which could easily lead to even more confusion, misunderstandings and intentional fraud with them voting in Federal elections.
During Connecticut's 2023 Legislative Session a State Representative proposed a Connecticut constitutional amendment to give both legal and illegal immigrants the right to vote in local and state elections. Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, who sponsored the bill, claimed there is a need for noncitizens to have an “active voice in the democratic process and community life.” Although the bill failed to pass in 2023 it is likely that Democrats will reintroduce the bill again in the future.
Ongoing Developments and Implications
As of February 2026, several high-profile cases remain pending in state court, and the U.S. Department of Justice has referenced Bridgeport in litigation concerning voter-roll maintenance. Proponents of election-integrity legislation argue that the pattern of arrests, judicial findings, and enforcement delays demonstrates the need for additional safeguards, including passage of the federal SAVE Act and state-level reforms to voter-roll accuracy and absentee-ballot procedures. Democratic Party Opponents maintain that existing laws are sufficient and that the incidents are isolated, even though they obviously are not.
Connecticut election officials and lawmakers continue to face questions about the balance between accessible voting and safeguards against misconduct. The volume of documented cases in Bridgeport has placed the state’s election administration under sustained examination. The Public wants to see election-integrity measures like the SAVE Act passed but are mostly shouted down by the vocal majority of Democrats in leadership. Voters are now stuck questioning the legitimacy of all elections in the state.
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