Election Judge and others in three South Philly voting divisions cast fraudulent votes for candidates at all levels of government for decades

Marie Beren was involved in election counts since 1984. This appears to be something that was happening all across Philadelphia.

The government claims that the consultant in question directed Beren to add fraudulent votes to candidates supported by the consultant. In some cases, the candidates were clients of the consultant. Prosecutors say that these fraudulent votes were cast for candidates at every level of government, from municipal to state to federal.

When Election Day came around, the consultant would drive Beren to the polling place in the morning, giving her instructions along the way. According to the feds, Beren perpetuated the voter fraud in a variety of ways. She would allegedly advise in-person voters how to vote, a violation of election law. She allegedly cast fraudulent votes herself in place of voters she knew wouldn’t be coming to the polls. (The government doesn’t make clear how she knew they wouldn’t show up.) The government also alleges that she would encourage and permit in-person voters to vote on behalf of absent family members, “steering” those voters in support of the consultant’s candidates of choice.

Beren and others, who are unnamed in the criminal complaint, falsified the “voting book” for the day, writing down names of voters who didn’t actually show up so that the count would all make sense at the end of the day.

Prosecutors haven’t specified exactly how many fraudulent votes Beren allegedly cast or caused to be cast or whether these votes had any impact on the results of an election. . . .

Victor Fiorillo, “Mark Squilla Staffer Charged in South Philly Voter Fraud Conspiracy,” Philadelphia Magazine, October 13, 2021.