Philadelphia Democratic official pleads guilty to stuffing ballot boxes for cash

The Philadelphia U.S. Attorney's Office on Thursday announced it had secured a guilty plea in the case of Domenick DeMuro, a Democratic ward chairman and election judge in that city who has admitted to stuffing ballot boxes over several elections to help Democratic candidates win office. 

DeMuro was allegedly paid as much as $5,000 per cycle to commit the election fraud. Candidates whom he helped get elected included judges as well as local, state and federal officials. 

He "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," U.S. Attorney William McSwain said Thursday.

In a press release, the Justice Department implied that the conspiracy stretches beyond DeMuro's activities, with the ward chairman allegedly just one of multiple election fraudsters involved in fixing elections. 

An "unnamed political consultant" allegedly accepted cash from "clients," which he or she then used to hire multiple other Election Board officials to engage in fraud, the press release stated. 

The FBI said the matter is part of an "active, ongoing investigation."