Dem Operative Turns Herself In On Election-Tampering Charges

Bridgeport Democrat Party Vice Chair Wanda Geter-Pataky turned herself in to Connecticut State Police on Friday over election-tampering charges stemming from the 2023 Democrat primary for mayor.

During the September 2023 Democratic mayoral primary race, Mayor Joe Ganim was losing to John Gomes by hundreds of votes but later won the race by 251 votes after absentee ballots came flooding in. Video footage later appeared to show two Ganim-affiliated operatives stuffing the ballot drop boxes in violation of state law. Geter-Pataky — who was affiliated with Ganim’s campaign — was allegedly one of the ballot-box-stuffing individuals. Connecticut law stipulates that a “voter must personally mail or personally return the ballot for it to be counted,” with limited exceptions.

Superior Court Judge William Clark ruled that “the volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the result of the primary election in[to] serious doubt.” Clark said he lacked the authority to change the date of the general election — which Ganim went on to win — but ordered a do-over.

Ganim won the do-over primary last January and then the general election in February of 2024. But that race was later called into question by Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas who, as I previously reported, “wrote in a letter to the State Elections Enforcement Commission that election monitors who were overseeing the general election found multiple instances of potential election violations.”

At least eight voters “indicated during spot check calls that they received absentee ballots despite not requesting them,” Thomas’ letter stated.

Bridgeport City Councilwoman Maria Pereira also turned herself in Friday after being charged with ballot crimes, according to News 12 Connecticut’s John Craven. Pereira allegedly bribed and threatened several voters and illegally handled their absentee ballots, according to News 12 Connecticut.

Pereira said she is “going to win.”

“I’ve defeated the Bridgeport Police Department four times with zero convictions. I’m going to win this too.”

Geter-Pataky was previously charged with unlawful possession of absentee ballots and witness tampering in the 2019 Democratic mayoral primary race. Geter-Pataky was accused “of failing to sign as an assister on an absentee ballot application that she had filled out on behalf of a prospective voter and misrepresenting eligibility requirements for voting by absentee ballot when she reportedly told a citizen not to vote in person and that she would pick up the citizen’s absentee ballot,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit cited by Chief State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin’s office. The citizen “later told [state] investigators that the defendant told her not to speak to anyone about the matter,” according to Griffin’s office.

Ganim won the mayoral Democrat primary in question, defeating state Sen. Marilyn Moore by 270 votes, according to News 12 Connecticut. But Geter-Pataky, City Councilman Alfredo Castillo, and Nilsa Heredia, a volunteer, allegedly tampered with absentee ballots, according to the report.