Convicted Abscam congressman from South Philly back in federal custody

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: PBS/WHYY

A former U.S. Congressman who already did one stint in jail is headed back for 30 months after admitting to election fraud. Michael “Ozzie” Myers has admitted to paying the judge of elections in two polling places to add additional votes to the end-of-day tally between 2014 and 2018. He entered a guilty plea to the charges in June. 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.” In that case, the fraud was evident because the number of votes counted at the end of the day outnumbered the number of voters who came in to cast a ballot. At another polling place, Gibson said the scheme was better hidden.

“They voted for individuals who they knew would not appear. But then they signed those individuals’ names into the records, into the paper records,” he said. “So, for example, if Eric Gibson did not appear on Election Day, nonetheless, somebody would sign the sign-in sheet with my name and then somebody would sign the polling book with my name so that the tallies coming out of the machine matched the number of voters.” This was not a case of voting for those who are no longer among the living. “Voting for dead people, that had nothing at all to do with this,” Gibson said. “Other family members might come in and say, ‘my husband’s not coming in.’ And they would cast a vote then for the husband, knowing that he was not going to appear at the polls.”

Former U.S. Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers went to prison in the 1980s for accepting a bribe in the Abscam sting. Now he’s charged with election fraud. 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.

Read more: https://whyy.org/articles/ozzie-myers-congressman-south-philly-voter-fraud-prison/

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I just heard this on the radio (local Philly CBS affiliate) this afternoon about a half hour ago. A blast from the past!

This was started under a (GOP) U.S. Attorney who is no longer there (and who also ran in the GOP primary for governor but came in 3rd)

[peppertree]

1. Abscam - from back when congressional bribery was actually illegal

That's why SuperPACs were invented.

[JHB]

2. My thought exactly.

[peppertree]

8. It is what it is.

[Evolve Dammit]

7. Really good point. Thanks

[peppertree]

9. You bet

Here's hoping we can get Shittizens United overturned.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. The movie "American Hustle" was based on the Abscam investigation, but it ignored the issue of

entrapment. Those were the cases, particularly against Sen. Harrison Williams (hope I'm remembering this correctly), where entrapment became a useless defense against stings.

[Rebl2]

4. What became

of the election judge?

[bucolic_frolic]

5. And similar schemes didn't happen out of the spotlight in rural PA, WI, MI, MN in 2016, amiright?

When billionaire focus was on rural places ignored by every candidate for 100 years.

[brooklynite]

6. Ozzie Myers was my Congressman when I became a Ward Committeeman in West Philly

The local Ward worked successfully to replace him with Tom Foglietta in 1980.

[SunSeeker]

10. Judge candidates had hired him to stuff ballot boxes for them. Those guys need to go to jail too.

Prosecutors said some of the candidates were running to be judges and had hired Myers, who would use portions of "consulting fees" from his clients to pay others to interfere with election results.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/politics/michael-ozzie-myers-election-fraud-prison-sentenced/index.html

[Deminpenn]

11. As former judge of elections

for my precinct in Philly, can't imagine why anyone would pay for votes. The election board slots often go begging. I was asked to take the job by my D committee person after the elected judge was hurt in a fall and was then appointed to it.

AFAIK, it only takes 10 signatures on a petition to get on the ballot and you're probably running unopposed meaning it only takes a few votes to win.

For all that, it's a 16 hour day paying a grand total of $100.

[clementine613]

12. Figures a Rethug couldn't stay out of jail.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. He's a Democrat unfortunately

[clementine613]

14. Nah. If he's committing crimes, then he's really a Rethug, even if says D next to his name.

You know them by their deeds, not their names.