An employee of Connecticut’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has been accused of changing voter registration cards in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election.
The complaint alleges that voter registration cards submitted to the Torrington Registrar of Voters Office following a September national voting event appeared altered, WFSB reported.
An investigation into the matter concluded that the individual intentionally changed the registration cards from Republican to Democrat.
The state employee, 57-year-old Arlanda Brantley, turned herself into the police this week and faces five counts of fraudulent registration and five counts of primary or enrollment violations. Brantley was released from custody on a $10,000 surety bond and is scheduled to appear in court on February 10.
State Representative Joe Canino said in a statement obtained by the outlet, “I am outraged to hear that a state employee was knowingly fabricating voter registration information without the consent of our registrants. What was meant to be a non-partisan, state-led, voter registration event, has now been tainted by Ms. Brantley’s illegal actions, which could have tainted the sanctity of Torrington elections. There is no room for election fraud in Connecticut.”
“Whether it’s this incident in Torrington, or down in Bridgeport where individuals were stuffing ballots into a drop box during the eleventh hour before an election, the bottom line is that voter fraud is happening in Connecticut,” Canino said. “As the voice of Torrington, I will continue to fight for our residents who deserve honesty and transparency in our elections and accountability for these shameful actions. Through increased enforcement of election related crimes, voter identification requirements, chain of custody requirements, and other proposals related to election security, my colleagues and I are committed to fixing gaps in our election laws that allow these incidents to take place.”
