Four Democratic campaign officials in Bridgeport, Connecticut, were arrested and charged with election fraud Tuesday in relation to the 2019 mayoral primary race in which incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim defeated state Sen. Marilyn Moore by only 270 votes.

City Councilman Alfredo Castillo, Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee Vice Chairperson Wanda Geter-Pataky, and two other campaign workers were charged with illegally handling absentee ballots.

All four campaign officials were charged with unlawful possession of absentee ballots, while Geter-Pataky and Castillo were also charged with failing to sign as an assister on an absentee ballot application and misrepresenting eligibility requirements. Several voters filed a lawsuit in 2019 that sought a new election — nearly a dozen testified in court that they had voted by absentee ballots despite not being qualified to do so.

The crimes don’t stop there, though, for both Ganim and Geter-Pataky.

Ganim, now in his eighth term as mayor, was convicted in 2003 on counts of extortion, racketeering, bribery, filing false tax returns, and mail fraud. He testified in court Tuesday that he knew nothing about his campaign team’s illegal behavior, of course.

Geter-Pataky’s giving him a run for his illegitimate money, though. She was involved in another episode during the 2023 mayoral election, in which a judge had to order a new election in the contest between Ganim and John Gomes after footage emerged showing multiple individuals shoving absentee ballots into collection boxes. Gomes claims that Geter-Patarky was one of them.

Clearly expressed by this pattern of repeated behavior is that if election fraud isn’t cracked down upon, in both a swift and harsh manner, it’s bound to happen again.

Failing to do so undermines the most fundamental manner through which the public can influence politics: voting. The disenfranchisement and sense of helplessness felt by so many are bad enough as they are, but stories such as this one erode trust in government to an even more troubling extent.

And with the 2024 presidential election right around the corner, there’s no time more important than now for our country to reexamine its election system and make sure it’s sound. As is clear, there are many campaign officials, political leaders, and politicians themselves who are willing to engage in election fraud. The public knows how dangerous that is, and steps must be taken to ensure this election doesn’t feature such abhorrent behavior.

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Take it from the horse’s mouth: Ganim himself said Tuesday that “we all agree that the integrity of the voting process is vital to our democracy.”

It’s vital and also essential, but just because someone is corrupt doesn’t mean a lot of people won’t vote for them — especially when absentee ballots are involved.