An undocumented immigrant recently detained and then released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now the center of controversy after the West Hartford Republican Town Committee (RTC) found he was registered to vote in Connecticut, but Sead “Seyo” Cecunjanin says he never registered to vote and claims there are errors on the voter registration.
Online voter registration information and documents presented by the West Hartford RTC that were obtained through a Freedom of Information request show “Sead Cecunjanin” registered to vote in West Hartford in 2018. Seyo, however, denies the allegations.
In a Tuesday interview with Inside Investigator, he said that it would be impossible for him to vote because he was not a citizen. Records only show that Cecunjanin registered to vote, but there is no record of him actually voting. During a separate interview on Thursday, he said there were discrepancies between the registered voter and his identity.
Seyo says he was born in a different year than the registered voter, and that his last name was spelled differently than the registered voter. The application shared by the West Hartford RTC shows a name being spelled two ways: “Sead Cecunjanin” submitted the application, but the voter registration name is listed as, “Sead Cecjhaniw.” Inside Investigator could not independently identify any voters in Connecticut registered under that name.
Seyo’s last name has widely been reported as “Cecunjanin” in the news, in press statements from Rep. John Larson, and in a statement that a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson gave to Fox News. Furthermore, the business he owns, Portobello Restaurant, is registered as being owned by a “Sead Cecunjanin.”
Seyo did tell Inside Investigator his address, and it is the same as the registered voter. West Hartford property records show that the land is owned by a man named “Sead Cecunjanin.”
“I saw that, but that’s not my date of birth,” he said. “My last name is not spelled right.”
Seyo is a Montenegrin national who entered the country with a forged Dutch passport in 1997. He had a deportation order for 25 years before he left the United States. He re-entered in 2024.
Seyo was apprehended by ICE officers on June 20 in West Hartford because of both immigration violations and a DUI. Politicians, including Larson and Blumenthal, rallied for his release. He was released from custody on July 4.
“I’m back to normal. I try to forget all that stuff and move on,” Seyo said.
On Wednesday, the West Hartford RTC wrote in an X/Twitter post, “Democrats claim this is impossible and doesn’t happen, and is a “right wing conspiracy”. Unfortunately they are only obfuscating the truth and deceiving the public, and now the West Hartford RTC has the receipts to prove it.”
Inside Investigator could not reach Larson or Blumenthal for questions.
On Monday, state officials, including Gov. Ned Lamont and Attorney General William Tong held a press conference assuring the public that elections in Connecticut were secure. A press release from Lamont’s office that was published that same day said President Donald Trump’s claims that noncitizens are registered to vote were presented “without a shred of evidence.”
On Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Mike Sherrill announced that 6,600 noncitizens were registered to vote by DMVs, and that around 400 of them had voted since 2023. These immigrants were registered because of a mistake in the DMV computer systems that automatically registered them, even if they reported they were not citizens. Cecunjanin was registered by a DMV in Connecticut, and the registration form reported that he was a U.S. citizen.
“The Registrar’s office was unable to respond to the portion of our request relating to the mechanism by which an illegal alien was registered to vote in our town,” The West Hartford Republican Town Committee’s X/Twitter post said. “However, careful examination of the Connecticut Voter Registration System card shows that on 9/28/18, a user named “ROUSSEAU” entered the following under a memo description line: “NEW/DMV Request received on 09/27/2018.””
“The Bottom Line: A ‘request’ came in from a Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles and a day later, an illegal alien was an active, registered voter in West Hartford,” the West Hartford RTC announcement continued.
In comments made to news outlets, Matt Clyburn of the Secretary of State’s office labelled the incident an “anomaly” but was unsure how it occurred, according to CT Mirror.
The allegations over an illegal voter registration also come following a 2023 absentee ballot-stuffing scandal in Bridgeport in which supporters of Mayor Joe Ganim were caught on camera stuffing hundreds of ballots into ballot boxes. The incident eventually resulted in multiple arrests and a do-over of the Bridgeport 2023 mayoral primary.
Was this article helpful?
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
