PHILADELPHIA – A former Democratic Judge of Elections has pleaded guilty for his role in accepting bribes to cast fraudulent ballots and certifying false voting results in primary elections in Philadelphia, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Domenick J. Demuro, 73, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty during a sealed proceeding on March 16, 2020, before U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond to conspiring to deprive persons of civil rights, and using interstate facilities in aid of bribery. The court unsealed the matter Thursday.
Demuro admitted that while serving as an elected municipal Judge of Elections, he accepted bribes in exchange for adding ballots for certain candidates on the voting machines in his jurisdiction and for including the fraudulent ballots in official tallies during the 2014, 2015 and 2016 primary elections in Philadelphia, Fox News reported.
Demuro further admitted that a local political consultant gave him directions and paid him money to add votes for candidates supported by the consultant, including candidates for judicial office whose campaigns actually hired the consultant, and other candidates for various federal, state and local elective offices preferred by that consultant for a variety of reasons.
Moreover, he acknowledged that votes he added in exchange for payments by the political consultant increased the number of votes fraudulently recorded and tallied for the consultant’s clients and preferred candidates, thereby diluting the ballots cast by actual voters.
“Demuro fraudulently stuffed the ballot box by literally standing in a voting booth and voting over and over, as fast as he could, while he thought the coast was clear. This is utterly reprehensible conduct. The charges announced today do not erase what he did, but they do ensure that he is held to account for those actions,” U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said.
McSwain did not reveal the names of the candidates Demuro fraudulently propped up, nor did he say if they won their districts.
Demuro’s sentencing is scheduled for June 30. He faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
