Democrats are facing new charges of election fraud going back to 2021, despite their party pushing back on election integrity and voter fraud claims since the 2020 presidential election.
While Democrats have long criticized Republicans who are concerned about election integrity by smearing them with the pejorative label “election deniers,” new allegations regarding election fraud are being made against Democrats. Five Democratic Party members in Bridgeport, Conn., and Philadelphia have been criminally charged with numerous counts of voter fraud on both the state and federal levels regarding mail-in ballots.
Bridgeport had to redo primary and general elections last year after evidence surfaced of alleged ballot harvesting in the Democratic mayoral primary in September 2023.
Ballot harvesting
The incumbent Democratic mayor, whose supporter was the reason for the redo elections after allegedly committing ballot harvesting, won the redo elections. The mayor denied any knowledge of the alleged ballot harvesting. The Democratic Connecticut secretary of the state sent multiple referrals of alleged election malfeasance to State Elections Enforcement Commission from the redo general election last February.
Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee Vice Chairperson Wanda Geter-Pataky, and Bridgeport Democratic City Council Members Alfredo Castillo, Jazmarie Melendez, and Maria Pereira were all criminally charged, as well as a woman from Stratford. Geter-Pataky has the most criminal charges against her, with 92 in total, including 42 counts of Possession of Ballots and Envelopes Restricted.
Other charges filed against the five people accused include fraudulent voting, being present while voters filled out those ballots, and misrepresenting who is eligible to vote absentee.
Castillo and Geter-Pataky were criminally charged last year for allegedly taking possession of voters’ absentee ballots during Bridgeport’s 2019 Democratic mayoral primary.
Hellbound and Down 