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The seven-year-old case in which Stamford’s former Democratic Party chief allegedly forged absentee ballots is moving toward trial.
John Mallozzi is charged with 14 counts each of filing false statements and second-degree forgery in the 2015 municipal election, when Stamford voters chose candidates to fill seats on the Board of Representatives, Board of Finance and Board of Education.
After a court appearance Tuesday, Mallozzi’s attorney, Stephan Seeger, said, “We are headed to trial.”
A note in the case file at state Superior Court in Stamford, dated May 24 under the heading “other court action,” states, “canvas for court trial.”
Other documents in the file show that the state has requested that Mallozzi provide a list of names of all witnesses he intends to call during his case and that he provide copies of witness statements. The state also requested that Mallozzi disclose whether he plans to introduce expert testimony, and that he provide copies of the documents he intends to offer in evidence at trial.
The status of the case is listed as “jury trial” on the Connecticut Judicial Branch website, and the next court date is July 26.
The case has progressed slowly from the start.
It came to light after a Stamford man went to vote at his polling place in District 8 on Nov. 3, 2015 but was told he’d been recorded as having already voted by absentee ballot.
When poll workers checked the man’s signature against the one on his supposed absentee ballot, they found that the handwriting was different.
The incident was reported to the State Elections Enforcement Commission, which traced the man’s irregular absentee ballot, and 13 others, to Mallozzi.
After a 20-month investigation, SEEC officials reported their findings to the state’s attorney in Stamford. Mallozzi was arrested in January 2019 and pleaded not guilty two months later.
Around that time Seeger told the Stamford Advocate that the town clerk’s office, then headed by Republican Donna Loglisci, was rife with “procedural complacencies” and “irregularities” that could be attributed to others besides his client.
Seeger said that a ballot should never be handed to anyone other than the person who would use it to vote, and that a trial would reveal a broken absentee ballot system.
According to Mallozzi’s arrest affidavit, Loglisci admitted that she handed Mallozzi blank ballots and accepted completed ones from him.
SEEC officials have said it is a violation of state law for a town clerk to give a blank absentee ballot to anyone other than the voter to whom it is assigned.
Loglisci is a witness in Mallozzi’s case, according to his arrest affidavit. She has not been charged.
In November 2019 Mallozzi was in court to discuss a possible resolution. Seeger said a pre-trial conference with state prosecutors and a judge could lead to an agreement, and that was his hope.
In March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic hit and court business was severely disrupted. Jury trials resumed in June 2021.
In August 2021 the state made an offer that Mallozzi rejected, and the state then withdrew the offer, according to Mallozzi’s case file.
Now the case is apparently headed for trial, with proceedings to begin in July.
Mallozzi’s arrest made headlines around Connecticut. He chaired the Stamford Democratic City Committee from 2012 to 2016 and was an active member of the Democratic State Central Committee.
Loglisci, who had been town clerk for 16 years, ran again in 2017 but was defeated by Democrat Lyda Ruijter, who was reelected last year.