The arrest warrants filed against four Bridgeport residents this week allege that operatives on both sides of a hotly contested race for mayor illegally harvested absentee ballots ahead of the city’s 2023 Democratic primary.

Three of the people charged say they were working for and paid by Mayor Joe Ganim’s campaign.

The newly unsealed records allege that Robert Anderson, Elsie Mercado and Silvia Ramos illegally collected absentee ballots on behalf of Ganim ahead of the September 2023 primary, which the incumbent mayor won by just 251 votes. All three of those defendants told investigators that they were paid by Ganim’s campaign.

State prosecutors also claim that Maria Hernandez, who was running for a city council seat in the city’s 137th district, illegally collected two voters’ absentee ballots while working in conjunction with John Gomes, Ganim’s Democratic challenger.

Anderson and Mercado did not return phone calls for this story. The Connecticut Mirror could not contact Ramos and Hernandez. None of them have listed defense attorneys yet.

Ganim and Gomes, who faced off in four consecutive elections in 2023 and 2024, did not return phone calls for this story.

The arrest warrants filed in court this week are the latest criminal charges to emerge out of a sprawling investigation into Bridgeport’s 2023 mayoral race, which was ultimately overturned in court due to widespread allegations of absentee ballot fraud.

Nine people have now been charged with abusing the absentee voting system during that primary, including several sitting city council members and the vice chairwoman of the city’s Democratic Party.

The new criminal complaints shine new light on Bridgeport’s municipal elections, which drew national attention after video surveillance footage emerged in the fall of 2023 depicting numerous campaign operatives depositing absentee ballots into drop boxes throughout the city.

In particular, the arrest warrants cite evidence about how some of these campaign operatives were financially compensated.

The warrant filed in Ramos’s case, for instance, notes that she received at least $2,600 from Ganim’s campaign and that Ramos told investigators that city councilwoman Eneida Martinez recruited her to be a “chaser” for the Ganim campaign.

The allegations against Mercado similarly state that Ganim’s campaign paid her $8,620 for what they categorized as “consulting.”

One of the voters who was interviewed by investigators alleged that Ganim himself went door-to-door with Mercado while she was signing up people to vote absentee ahead of the 2023 election.

That voter told investigators that Mercado “entered the apartment while Ganim simply said hello from the threshold of the apartment door and walked away presumably to greet other potential voters in her building.”

It is legal in Connecticut for candidates, campaign workers and political party members to distribute applications for absentee ballots.

But the arrest warrants allege that the actions of the political operatives in the city went beyond that.

Investigators with the Chief State’s Attorney’s office accused the four new defendants of returning to voters’ homes and apartments and illegally taking possession of their absentee ballots, which is commonly referred to as ballot harvesting.

Mercado repeatedly denied taking possession of other voters’ ballots during an interview with state investigators. And Hernandez claimed she only handled absentee ballots that belonged to her family members, which can be legal.

But the two other defendants admitted to breaking the state’s election laws during similar interviews, which were recorded, the warrants state.

Anderson, who is a city employee, was captured on video surveillance footage alongside Wanda Geter-Pataky, the vice chairwoman of the city’s Democratic party, depositing ballots into a drop box outside the city government center, the warrants state.

When confronted with that video footage, investigators said, Anderson acknowledged depositing roughly 10 ballots into two of the drop boxes in the city.

Anderson did tell investigators that “he worked for, and was paid by the Ganim campaign during the 2023 Primary campaign,” the warrant states.

But he also said that “he was never told by anyone working in the Ganim campaign to pick up ballots.”

Ramos made similar admissions during her interview.

According to the arrest warrant, Ramos initially said she didn’t pick up anyone’s ballots, but later told investigators that she picked up “one or two.”

She also told investigators that once she picked up those ballots, she would “give ’em to Eneida (Martinez).”

Ramos is not the first person to claim that they were working for Martinez when they harvested voters’ ballots. Margaret Joyce, who was charged previously with absentee ballot crimes, told investigators that she was also working on behalf of Martinez and Ganim.

Martinez has not been charged with any crime as part of the ongoing investigation, and when she was reached by phone on Thursday, she denied having any involvement with Ramos.

“That has nothing to do with me,” Martinez said before referring the CT Mirror to her attorney, John Kennelly.

Kennelly also denied that his client ever took possession of another voter’s absentee ballot.

“Eneida Martinez has never violated any election laws in any election, and more particularly, has never taken possession of any absentee ballots, nor participated in the collection or return of any absentee ballots,” he said.

“The councilwoman unequivocally denies any inference that she has in any way been involved with any of this unfortunate conduct,” Kennelly said.

But, according to the warrant, city surveillance footage shows Martinez dropping materials into a ballot drop box.

“Ramos gave Eneida Martinez absentee ballots in violation of the law, which may be corroborated by video evidence … of Eneida Martinez’s multiple approaches to a ballot drop box during the 2023 Primary,” the warrant states.

Martinez asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination when she was questioned about those videos in court in 2023.