Election Fraud Is Real and Needs to Be Fixed Before 2024

Written by Betsy McCaughey

Democrats claim election fraud is a myth. But videos don’t lie.

Roll the tapes:

On Nov. 1, Connecticut Judge William Clark overturned the results of the Bridgeport mayoral primary, calling video evidence of potential fraud “shocking.” Wanda Geter-Pataky, the vice chair of the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee, appears to have been caught on video stuffing handfuls of ballots into a drop box outside City Hall.

On Oct. 25, in Paterson, New Jersey, the sitting president of the City Council, Alex Mendez, was charged with personally collecting large numbers of mail-in ballots in his district, destroying ballots that did not favor him and replacing them with ballots that falsely chose him. New Jersey’s Attorney General Matthew Platkin states that Mendez “personally observed from his wife’s vehicle as a large, heavy bag, completely filled with ballots, was emptied into the Haledon postal box prior to the election.”

On Nov. 2, in Springfield, Massachusetts, mayoral candidate Justin Hurst was nailed by city election officials for allegedly buying votes during early voting. Videotape shows individuals being dropped off in black Suburbans and Expeditions, and entering City Hall to vote. When they exited, a man “takes out what appears to be a large bundle of cash” and peels off a bill for each individual, according to an affidavit by election commissioner Gladys Oyola-Lopez.

In one week, election fraudsters were busted in three major Northeastern cities.

Leftist organizations such as the Brennan Center for Justice and the League of Women Voters claim voter fraud is a “phantom” and “extremely rare.” Don’t buy it. The evidence is all around us.

Cheating is a cakewalk because of accommodations pushed by Democrats, including universal mail-in voting and unmanned drop boxes.

Now is the time to scrutinize the 2023 races and plug the obvious gaps. Cheating should not determine the outcome in the highly consequential 2024 national election.

In Bridgeport’s 2023 mayoral primary, Democratic candidate John Gomes was ahead, until he got crushed late in the process when absentee votes favoring incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim were counted.

One Bridgeport pol described the use of absentee ballots there as “an art form.” That “art form” may partially explain how Ganim, who was Bridgeport’s mayor from 1991 to 2003 — before serving seven years in federal prison for racketeering, extortion, filing false tax returns, and other crimes — was able to stage a comeback upon his release from prison and win election in 2015 and 2019.

In Connecticut, Democrats are singing one song: Fraud is “unique to Bridgeport” and isn’t a problem elsewhere. Wrong.

Last year, John Mallozzi, then chairman of the Democratic Party in Stamford, was convicted of forgery and making false statements related to absentee ballots. His ruse was uncovered when a voter named on a fraudulent absentee ballot actually showed up at the polls.

Connecticut Republican legislators are pushing to improve voting security. State Representative Doug Dubitsky, a Republican, says “this exact same thing could be happening in every single municipality in this state.” But Democrats who control both houses of the state legislature and all statewide offices refuse to tighten voting procedures.

That’s not hard to explain. In statewide races, including for governor or president, Republicans historically have been ahead until the absentee ballots in the Democrat-controlled cities in Connecticut are tallied.

Across the nation, Republicans are pressing state legislatures to eliminate drop boxes and bar third parties from collecting huge numbers of completed ballots — a practice called “harvesting.” Republicans also want to use software to match the signature on the mail-in ballot to the signature on the voter registration form.

Democrats almost universally oppose these safeguards, calling them “voter suppression.” “Cheating suppression” is more like it.

Perceptions of unfairness are corrosive. At a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing in June, polls were cited showing 37 percent of Democratic-leaning voters and 71 percent of Republican-leaning voters doubt the honesty of elections.

Most European countries require voters to show up in person, unless they are out of the country or disabled. These countries tried mail-in voting and eliminated it in the face of widespread fraud.

Americans need to get smart. Convenience shouldn’t take priority over security. Before you board a plane, you have to wait in line while your carry-ons are inspected. It’s inconvenient but worth it.

Same is true for voting. When you turn on the TV on election night to watch the returns, you want to know the results are honest, whether your candidate wins or not.

America has one year to get the job done.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey.