BALLOT STUFFING

Former Pennsylvania Rep. Bribed Election Officials in Primaries: Feds

Ozzie Myers allegedly paid a top election official to add votes for his preferred candidates.

Former Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Ozzie Myers was charged Thursday with bribing election officials, according to the Department of Justice. He allegedly bribed Domenick Demuro, a former top election official in South Philadelphia’s 39th Ward, during primary elections between 2014 and 2016 to add votes in favor of his preferred candidates and those who paid him as a campaign consultant. Demuro pleaded guilty to election fraud offenses in March and is set to be sentenced in September. Myers allegedly paid Demuro between $300 and $5,000 per election, and according to the filing said, “If there was ever a question, Dom...you know you’d say, well I gave the money out election day [to get out the vote].”

Myers served two Congressional terms between 1977 and 1990, and was removed in 1980 after being caught taking a $50,000 bribe from an undercover FBI agent. “Votes are not things to be purchased and democracy is not for sale,” U.S. Attorney William McSwain said Thursday.