State prosecutors took a big step Friday when they charged five Bridgeport Democrats with more than 150 election-related crimes, but arrest warrants suggest the sprawling investigation into voter fraud and ballot harvesting might not end there.
The charges, which were leveled against campaign staffer Margaret Joyce, Bridgeport’s Democratic vice chair Wanda Geter-Pataky and city council members Alfredo Castillo, Jazmarie Melendez and Maria Pereira, are some of the most far-reaching allegations of election crimes in the state’s history.
The arrest warrants paint a picture of competing political camps that aggressively and illegally pursued absentee votes for Mayor Joe Ganim and Democratic primary challenger John Gomes — by forging signatures, registering non-citizens to vote, telling people how to vote, changing votes after they were cast and harvesting dozens of absentee ballots so they could be delivered to drop boxes in the city….