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City Councilman Marcus Brown greets voters outside of Blackham School in Bridgeport, Conn. Aug. 9, 2022. 

State Rep. Jack Hennessy, of Bridgeport, greets voters outside of Winthrop School in Bridgeport, Conn. Aug. 9, 2022. 

Election moderators recount ballots in Bridgeport, Conn. Aug. 16, 2022. 

BRIDGEPORT — Citing alleged absentee ballot fraud in the recount vote, a judge has ordered a new Democratic primary for the state House's 127th District.

Superior Court Judge Barry Stevens ruled that four voters had not signed applications for absentee ballots, as required by law, invalidating the final vote tally in the primary.

“Because these four voters did not sign their applications for absentee ballots in accordance with (state law) they were not entitled to the absentee ballots they received, the ballots they cast should be rejected and not counted,” the judge wrote in a 14-page decision issued Tuesday afternoon.

In a hearing a short time later, the judge refused to immediately place a hold on his decision until it can be reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

The ruling, which came just hours after lawyers for City Councilman Marcus Brown and incumbent State Rep. Jack Hennessy submitted lengthy written arguments for and against a new primary, sent all sides scrambling with just five weeks before the general election.

During a three-week trial before the judge, Hennessy challenged the results of a second recount on Aug. 29 that resulted in Brown winning by two votes.

His lawyer, William Bloss, presented several witnesses who testified that someone else signed their names on absentee ballot applications.

It is a violation of state election law for someone other than the voter to sign the ballot application. The State Elections Enforcement Commission recently agreed to investigate allegations of absentee ballot fraud in the primary brought by Hennessy’s campaign manager Maria Pereira, a city councilwoman.

"Not only is this ruling a victory for State Representative Jack Hennessy this is a victory for democracy and fair and free elections in Bridgeport," Pereira said later.

Testifying through a Creole interpreter, Luis Jean-Pierre, told the judge that at the urging of Marcus Brown he signed absentee ballot applications for his two sons. He said Brown told him it was all right to do so.

Another resident of the district, Edwardo Santos, testified he received an absentee ballot in the mail even though he had not filled out an application for one. Shown an application with his name on it by Bloss, Santos said it was not his signature.

Santos continued that after he received the ballot a woman named “Wanda” came to his home and convinced him to vote for Brown.

“I felt I was misled by this lady, Wanda,” he said.

“There is no evidence on which the court can conclude that these four ballots were not among the 1,144 votes counted in favor of one of the two candidates as part of the court-ordered manual recount and therefore the court must infer that these four ballots were among the 1,144 votes that were so counted,” the judge stated.

Deputy City Attorney John Bohannon, who represented the registrar, Patricia Howard, and Town Clerk Charles Clemons during the hearings, declined comment on the judge’s ruling.

Following the second recount, Brown was declared the winner of the primary by a vote of 573 to 571.

The first recount was triggered when the initial vote count on Aug. 9 showed Brown, 31, holding a narrow five vote lead — 579 to 574 — over Hennessy, 71, the Park City’s current longest serving state lawmaker.

Election officials named Hennessy the winner after the recount revealed that the nine-term lawmaker and former truck driver received 567 votes while Brown received 566.

Brown then filed an appeal in Superior Court claiming that city election officials improperly lost possession of numerous absentee ballots; improperly allowed absentee ballots to co-mingle so that an improper count was made during the recount canvass; used a defective machine tabulator and certified the results of the recount while acknowledging the absence of at least nine absentee ballots.

Both sides then arrived at a settlement before Judge Stevens to have a second recount, this one to be done by hand before new moderators.

During the second recount the nine missing absentee ballots were found in a sealed bag from another district.

Following the results of the second recount Hennessy filed an appeal of the primary contending that numerous irregularities and absentee ballot fraud resulted in Brown’s eventual win.

Daniel Tepfer has been reporting on legal issues and covering criminal cases for many years.