Wed. Nov 6th, 2024

The number of complaints about Bridgeport elections continues to grow, and on Wednesday, state elections enforcement officials referred two more cases to prosecutors for potential criminal charges.

Both of the criminal referrals that were issued by the State Elections and Enforcement Commission involve a familiar name: Bridgeport city councilman Alfredo Castillo.

Castillo, who has served on the city council for several terms, is already facing criminal charges for allegedly taking possession of another voter’s absentee ballot during Bridgeport’s 2019 Democratic primary and filling out that ballot in the voter’s name.

But the new complaints could add to Castillo’s potential criminal liability.

Frank Riccio, Castillo’s defense attorney, said he would review the complaints with his client, but he declined to comment on the SEEC’s decision to refer the cases for potential criminal charges.

The first complaint that the SEEC referred to the Chief State’s Attorney’s office alleges that Castillo drove voters to the polls during the November 2023 general election in Bridgeport and sat in his car with those voters as they filled out their ballots, which included his race for city council.

And the second complaint that was referred to state prosecutors accuses Castillo of requesting hundreds of applications for absentee ballots that were then distributed to voters by another political operative ahead of the August 2024 Democratic primary in Bridgeport.

It’s legal in Connecticut for candidates, campaign workers and party officials to distribute those absentee ballot applications to voters. But state law requires anyone distributing five or more of those forms to register with local election officials and to report which voters received the applications. They are also required to turn in any unused applications following the election.

The SEEC complaint, which was filed by a state-appointed election monitor in Bridgeport, alleges Castillo requested hundreds of absentee applications for a special election in February 2024. Yet, it claims, he never reported which voters those applications went to and never turned in the leftover applications to local election officials once that election was over.

Instead, they allege that Castillo gave the remaining applications to Maria Ines Valle, another Democratic member of the city council, who used them to sign up voters for an absentee ballot in another primary in August of this year.

Valle did not respond to a phone call for this story.

Castillo, who was also recently accused of illegally registering a noncitizen to vote, is not the only Democratic official in Bridgeport to be referred to state prosecutors for criminal charges this year.

SEEC has referred a number of other complaints as well stemming from allegations of absentee ballot abuse during recent Bridgeport elections, including the 2023 Democratic mayoral primary that ended with a judge tossing out the results of the election.

The targets of those earlier referrals include several other Bridgeport city council members and Wanda Geter-Pataky, the vice chairwoman of the city’s Democratic Party.

Patrick Griffin, Connecticut’s chief state’s attorney, has not filed any criminal charges stemming from those complaints, and it’s unclear if or when such charges can be expected.

CT Mirror staff writer Dave Altimari contributed to this story.

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