A former United States congressman is heading to prison for the second time after pleading guilty to repeatedly stuffing ballots for Democratic candidates in Philadelphia.
Former Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers (D-Pa.) received a two-and-a-half year prison sentence in exchange for his admission of guilt. Federal prosecutors first indicted Myers in 2020 for stuffing ballot boxes, bribing elections judges, falsifying records, voting more than once in an election and obstructing justice in elections in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
“Protecting the legitimacy of elections is critical to ensuring the public's trust in the process,” FBI Philadelphia Division Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire said in a Department of Justice press release. “Through his actions, Ozzie Myers pointedly disdained both the will of Philadelphia voters and the rule of law. He's now a federal felon twice over, heading back behind bars, with time to consider the great consequence of free and fair elections.”
Myers, 79, served three years in prison for bribery and conspiracy for his role in the Abscam scandal. The South Philly Democrat had the most famous quote from the scandal, in which undercover FBI agents targeted high-level public corruption and organized crime.
Speaking to agents posing as advisers to an Arab sheik, Myers unwittingly implicated himself on camera, declaring: “Money talks in this business and bullshit walks,” before accepting a $50,000 bribe.
On Oct. 2, 1980, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 376 to 30 to expel Myers, who had represented Pennsylvania's 1st District for less than four years.
The vote made Myers the first Member of Congress to experience the indignity of expulsion since the Civil War.
Besides his 2022 prison sentence, Myers has three years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine.
WHYY Philadelphia explains what happened after Myers bribed two judges of elections to illegally add votes at polling places (both judges have pled guilty).
Assistant US Attorney Eric Gibson said Myers' bribes resulted in extra votes being “rung up” on the voting machines by signing in people who didn't show up to vote. In one case, he had votes added to the tally without any corresponding paperwork.
The fraudulent votes happened in South Philly's 39th Ward, 36th division.
“What the judge of elections for the 39/36 would do during the scheme was – while the polling place was otherwise not busy – step into the machine and just add to the vote totals for specific candidates that were favored and supported by Myers,” Gibson said. “On Myers' instructions, he would just flip the switch, add the vote tallies or extra votes to the candidates on the little machine. So then when the machine spits out the results at the end of the evening, it would have those fraudulent votes recorded within the tally.”
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When announcing the initial charges in 2020, U.S. Attorney William McSwain did not say whether the alleged vote tampering changed the outcome of any election. In 2014, McSwain said, Demuro added 27 votes to the total. In 2015, he allegedly added 40, and in 2016, he allegedly added 46.
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