I was surprised to see such a light punishment for this egregious conduct, especially as this is an area that has seen an unusual amount of problematic activity:

 A former city councilman, who pleaded guilty to reduced charges in connection with election fraud allegations, will be spending three weekends behind bars.

Michael DeFilippo, 38, a Democrat who represented Bridgeport’s 133rd District, had been about to go to trial in U.S. District Court when he agreed to instead plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of deprivation of rights. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden in New Haven to three weekends of incarceration followed by a year of probation and was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine….

The federal indictment states that in the run-up to both the April 2018 primary and June 2018 special election, DeFilippo distributed voter registration and absentee balloting materials to his tenants. His goal was to have his tenants register as Democrats, which would enable them to vote in the local primary election, and then to have his tenants vote by absentee ballot, the indictment states.

In order to achieve this goal, the indictment continues, DeFilippo completed voter registrations and absentee ballot applications on his tenants’ behalf and directed them to sign these documents. He also instructed an unindicted coconspirator to forge several absentee ballots and submit them on his behalf, according to the indictment.