Dixwell Alderman Greg Morehead wondered how a perennial opponent almost beat him in last week’s election through a last-minute surge of absentee ballots. Now he wants the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) to answer his questions — a quest his opponent labeled a “witch hunt.”
On Thursday the SEEC received a formal complaint from Morehead (pictured) alleging ballot fraud by his opponent’s campaign in this November’s general election.
That opponent was Lisa Hopkins, who also ran against Morehead in three previous elections.
Morehead defeated Hopkins in the September primary for the Ward 22’s Democratic nomination. Hopkins mounted a lwrite-in campaign as an independent in the Nov. 3 general election. Morehead defeated her decisively at the polls, 215 – 87. An unusually large amount of absentee ballots were submitted in the race. Most of them — 107 — ended up as votes for Hopkins. Once they were counted, the final tally tightened considerably: Morehead won 237 – 194.
Though safely reelected, Morehead still wants answers about what happened, he said. He alleged in the complaint filed Thursday that Hopkins’ campaign committed absentee ballot fraud.
“It baffles me that someone can go from having 44 Absentee Ballots in the primary election to 107 in the general election while being a write-in,” Morehead wrote in the complaint. “I request that Ms. Hopkins campaign team be investigated thoroughly so that the voters can see the truth behind all of the Absentee Ballots.”
Morehead submitted evidence of one alleged fraud: the handling of a ballot of one Katie Williams of Webster Street. Williams signed an affidavit which Morehead included in his complaint. He claimed that that episode suggests that a larger pattern might exist.
In the affidavit, Williams wrote that Hopkins (pictured) and a campaign aide visited her home and asked her to sign an absentee ballot which had come in the mail. Then the pair allegedly took the signed ballot, which was unsealed and had no votes marked, “and left,” in the words of Williams’ statement.
Click here to read the statement.
“If this underhanded tactic was used for Mrs. Williams, how many other residents fell victim to this deception?” Morehead wrote in the complaint.
“I never met a Miss Katie Williams,” Lisa Hopkins responded in an interview Thursday night. She denied Morehead’s allegations and called them an attempt by Morehead to “smear” and “cripple” her in order to prevent her from remaining active in Ward 22.
“It’s a political witch hunt,” she said. “It’s not my fault he sat on his hands” after the September primary while she continued campaigning.
SEEC spokeswoman Nancy Nicolescu confirmed receipt of Morehead’s complaint Thursday.
“It is currently being reviewed and if the complaint alleges facts, which if proven true, would constitute a violation of state election or campaign finance laws, it will be docketed and assigned for investigation,” she said.