A Bethlehem man has been indicted on election fraud charges after allegedly casting two votes in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Matthew Laiss, 31, is charged with one count felony voting more than once in a federal election and one count felony voter fraud.
United States Attorney David Metcalf announced the charges on Friday. Katrina Young, the assistant federal defender assigned to Laiss, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Monday morning.
Authorities said Laiss resided and was legally registered to vote in Ottsville, Bucks County, until about August 2020, when he moved to Florida.
After moving to Florida, he applied for and obtained a Florida driver’s license and registered to vote in that state, according to the indictment.
In October 2020, the Bucks County Board of Elections mailed a ballot for the general election to Laiss’ former address, where his parents still lived, authorities said.
Laiss allegedly filled out and returned the mail-in ballot on Oct. 31, 2020. Then, on Nov. 3, he went to a polling location in Florida and again cast a vote, the indictment states.
Both ballots cast a vote for the offices of U.S. president and U.S. vice president, authorities said.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine ranging from $10,000 to $250,000.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of State. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Dubnoff.
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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
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