Bridgeport leads in absentee ballot requests with 4,363. Hartford next at 1,179.

The Bridgeport Democratic organization is living up to its reputation as the state’s most prodigious generator of absentee ballots. As of Friday, 4,363 Bridgeport Democrats had requested an absentee ballot for Tuesday’s municipal primary. As of Monday morning, 1,179 Hartford Democrats had applied for an absentee ballot, 625 ballots had been returned.

New Haven’s Democratic primary for mayor has prompted only 571 absentee ballot requests.

In three Republican primary contests, 27 party members in Derby, 64 in Brookfield and 125 in West Haven had applied for absentee ballots.

Absentee ballots provided the margin of victory in Bridgeports mayoral primary four years ago when state Senator Marilyn Moore won the machine votes, only to lose the race to incumbent Joseph Ganim when the absentee ballots were counted. Moore unsuccessfully disputed the result and failed to secure a the number of signatures necessary to secure a spot on the ballot for the fall contest that year. This year, the Democrat fell short of the number of signatures necessary for a primary challenge.

The State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) recently referred the results of its investigation into the 2019 Bridgeport Democratic primary to the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.

Published September 11, 2023.