AG’s office investigating allegations of voter fraud in Springfield mayoral election, city official says
Criminal investigators from the Massachusetts attorney general’s office have been interviewing Springfield city employees about allegations of voter fraud during last fall’s mayoral election, a city official said Tuesday.
City Solicitor Stephen J. Buoniconti confirmed the investigation into the Justin Hurst campaign in an email to The Boston Globe but declined further comment.
On Monday, Buoniconti told MassLive, the news outlet that first reported the investigation, “I can tell you that they are reviewing affidavits from city employees and police reports, and they are taking it very seriously.”
Hurst said Tuesday that Buoniconti works for Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who defeated Hurst in the November election. A former city councilor, Hurst said he plans to run for mayor again in 2027 and suggested that Buoniconti’s confirmation of the state investigation was intended to tarnish his candidacy.
“Every time I put out a press release focusing on the inadequacies of our current Mayor (voter suppression a few days ago for instance), his team coordinates with the media to rehash and manufacture the same story that I have already addressed on multiple occasions,” Hurst said in a statement.
“We are fighting against an establishment that has been in power for my entire life and feels their power slipping away as our movement for change and inclusivity continues to resonate with so many who constantly find themselves struggling to make ends meet,” he said.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell declined to comment. Sarno could not immediately be reached for comment. No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the inquiry.
Five days before the Nov. 7 election, Hurst adamantly denied claims that his campaign paid for votes and accused Sarno — who ultimately won by a wide margin — of trying to discredit him as Election Day loomed.
“Any accusation that my team paid residents in exchange for their vote is unequivocally false and nothing more than a last-minute smear campaign by an administration that is vulnerable for the first time in 16 years,” Hurst said at a Nov. 2 news conference. “This is a coordinated effort by Mayor Sarno to steal the election and use municipal employees and resources to do so.”
Surveillance video posted on YouTube by MassLive appears to show Hurst dropping off voters at Springfield City Hall in a black SUV on Oct. 28 and Hurst campaign volunteer Gilfrey T. Gregory, a convicted felon with a lengthy criminal history, peeling off bills and handing them to people after they voted early.
Hurst said in November that Gregory “has spent more time in prison than he’s spent out, but he’s a good man.”
In written affidavits posted online by the city in November in response to a public records request, city employees said many people who showed up to vote on Oct. 28 had to register first and used a local homeless shelter as their address. Several inquired about $10 payments they said they were promised, the employees said.
“Most of the individuals in these groups seemed incoherent, confused, and some were intoxicated or under the influence,” City Clerk Gladys Oyola-Lopez, who also serves as the city’s elections commissioner, wrote in her affidavit.
Oyola-Lopez said she later reviewed security footage from outside City Hall that showed two men talking to each other through the open windows of SUVs. One of the men appeared to be Hurst.
Video later shows Gregory “take out what appears to be a large bundle of cash and peel off a bill and hand it to” a group of people, she wrote. Some of the people then got into Hurst’s SUV, she said.
Police Officer Kevin Sullivan, who was working at the City Hall polling station on Oct. 28, said “a man put his ballot in the box and asked me, ‘where do I get my 10 dollars?’”
“I said to him, ‘you don’t get 10 dollars here.’ Later on, another man put his ballot in the box and said, ‘where do I get my 10 bucks?’” he wrote. “An Elections staff member said, ‘no one here is giving you anything.’ ”
Elections assistant Daisy Lorenzana wrote in her affidavit that some of the voters appeared to be uncertain why they were at City Hall. At one point, someone said in Spanish, “Vote for Hurst and you’ll get 10 dollars,” prompting a voter to reply, “You’re not supposed to say that out loud.”
Hurst said in November that his campaign had driven voters to the polls and then taken them home.
“We’ve been doing that the entire election. We do it all the time. And we will continue to do it,” he said. “We don’t give money in exchange for votes. I don’t know how much clearer I can be.”
Material from previous Globe coverage was used in this report.
Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Follow him @jeremycfox.
