Democrats charged with election fraud amid party's efforts to obstruct election integrity measures

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.

Being targeted for “political retribution” 

“The Office of the Chief State’s Attorney takes allegations of voter fraud seriously and I commend the Statewide Prosecution Bureau’s investigative efforts that resulted in these arrests,” Chief State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin said in a statement on Friday.

“To protect the integrity of our voting process in Connecticut, it is important that our elections are fair and free from fraudulent activity and criminal intent. These prosecutions hopefully send the message that deters tampering with election results in the future in Connecticut.”

The respective lawyers for Geter-Pataky and Pereira declined to comment when reached by the Associated Press on Friday. Pereira said while leaving the police station on Friday that she was going to win the case. Castillo’s attorney said his client plans to plead not guilty.

Melendez’s lawyer said that his client “categorically denies the baseless allegation” and is being targeted for “political retribution.” He also said that since Melendez was only charged with mispresenting people’s eligibility to vote absentee, prosecutors would have to prove that she deliberately did it, which he believes it “highly, highly doubtful” that Melendez did so.

The woman from Stratford who was charged has been unable to be reached for comment. All five charged in the 2023 election matter are to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on March 6th.

“Since the beginning of this investigation, the CT Democratic Party has said the law is clear about how to handle absentee ballots and ensure that voters rights are not violated,” Roberto Alves, the new chairman of the Connecticut Democratic Party, said in a statement on Friday. “If individuals are found guilty of election-related violations, they will be held accountable and have no place in party leadership.”  

In Millbourne, a Philadelphia suburb of about 1,200 people, three politicians were indicted by a federal grand jury last Tuesday for attempting to win a 2021 mayoral race by illegally casting about three dozen mail-in ballots.

Allegedly forged voter signatures

Mohammed Nurul Hasan, who was vice president of the borough council, Mohammed Munsur Ali, who had won the Democratic primary for borough council, and Mohammed Rafikul Islam, who lost the Democratic primary that year in seeking to be reelected to the council, all allegedly conspired to register people to vote in the election who lived outside of Millbourne.

Hasan had lost the Democratic mayoral primary that year and ran as a write-in candidate in the general election that fall. He lost the general election, 165 votes to 138. Hasan, Ali, and Islam had mail-in ballots sent to them, then completed and returned the ballots to the Delaware County elections board.

The federal grand jury alleged that Hasan and Ali told friends who lived outside Millbourne to register in the municipality and “that they would not get in trouble as long as they did not vote in another election in November 2021,” according to the indictment. However, other voters were unknowingly registered to vote in Millbourne, per the grand jury.

The three men allegedly forged voter signatures on return envelopes and are charged with fraudulent voter registration, false information in registering, and conspiracy.

Islam’s lawyer, Robert Keller, said Friday that his client is “the least culpable” of the three, according to the indictment, and that Islam is only accused of aiding in the scheme “in a minor way.” Islam has agreed to turn himself in to the court, Keller said.

“He has no prior record. He’s a U.S. citizen. He’s lived an honorable life and we’re going to do everything we can to protect his interests and see what kind of case the government has, and then act accordingly,” he added.

Hasan and Ali could not be reached for comment and did not have lawyers listed.

Jim Allen, the Delaware County elections director, told the Philadelphia Inquirer last week that the prosecutions should be a deterrent to others tempted to commit voter fraud.

“I view this as evidence that investigators are not going to let passage of time or the lack of an impact on the election result prevent them from pursuing the case, however long it takes,” Allen said.

Twice losing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has repeatedly said that the election was "stolen" from her. She has often declared Trump was an “illegitimate president” and suggested that “he knows that he stole the 2016 presidential election." 

However, multiple Democrats sued each other over alleged election fraud in 2023 and dozens of them have claimed election fraud and irregularities since at least the 2000 presidential election.