Sen. Kelly on Bport elections monitor: More holistic fixes are required

For Immediate Release

Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly today issued the following statement regarding the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s acknowledgement that the local elections watchdog position in Bridgeport established by the General Assembly may not be filled over the next couple weeks.

“We have video of alleged Bridgeport absentee ballot stuffing. During the legislature’s special session, the best majority Democrats could do was to pass an election monitor law. Republicans said this monitor would be a red herring that would do little to prevent ballot abuses.

We noted how monitoring is after the fact, and that it’s the opportunity to corrupt the process that is the problem. We noted how there would be just one monitor for the entire city of Bridgeport, even though there are numerous polling places and drop boxes in the city. We said a deeper, more holistic fix was required. We said we need tighter controls on the absentee ballot process.

Republican lawmakers offered several reasonable fixes to our laws in order to close corruption loopholes exposed by the videotape. Our solutions sought to get at the roots of corruption and to eliminate opportunities for fraud. We sought to show the people of Connecticut that we’re not going to tolerate people undermining our election process.

We stand for the one-person, one-vote Constitutional right. We offered amendment after amendment to instill trust, faith and confidence in the electoral system. One by one, all of our ideas to fix the system were shot down by the majority and all Democrat state lawmakers voted “no” on better, cleaner elections.

Majority Democrats had a window of opportunity to act, but instead they pulled down the shade. They had no appetite to close corruption loopholes. Why? Because the current election system and the alleged abuses we all saw on videos works for them.

This transcends political expediency. This is about getting democracy right. It’s that important. Republicans will continue offering achievable, impactful policy fixes as the story unravels and the facts emerge.”