Matthew Laiss, 32, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on July 15 to three years of probation with the first six months on home confinement, a $6,000 fine, and a $200 special assessment by United States District Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr. for election fraud offenses related to the 2020 presidential election.
Laiss was charged by indictment in September of last year with one count of voting more than once in a federal election and one count of voter fraud. He was convicted on both charges at trial in March.
According to court filings, from at least October 2012 until about August 2020, Laiss resided in Ottsville, Pennsylvania, and was lawfully registered to vote there. In August 2020, he moved his primary residence from Ottsville to Frostproof, Florida. That same month he obtained a Florida driver’s license and registered to vote in Florida.
In October 2020, the Bucks County Board of Elections mailed a ballot for the November general election to Laiss’s former address in Ottsville where his parents continued to reside. At trial it was proven that on or about October 31, 2020, Laiss filled out and returned the Pennsylvania mail-in ballot casting votes for President and Vice President. On November 3, he voted again at a polling location near Frostproof for those same offices.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of State and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Dubnoff.