A Bethlehem man will spend months on house arrest for voting twice in the 2020 presidential election, authorities said.
Matthew Laiss, 32, was sentenced Wednesday to three years of probation, with the first six months on home confinement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. Laiss, who was federally charged in September, was found guilty in March on charges of voting more than once in a federal election and voter fraud.
Laiss lived in Tinicum Township, Bucks County from October 2012 until August 2020, before moving to Frostproof, Florida. Before he moved to Florida, Laiss requested a mail-in ballot from the Bucks County Board of Elections. That ballot was sent to his former Bucks County home, where his parents lived, court documents state.
He filled that ballot out days before the election then voted in-person in Florida, where he had registered shortly after moving there. In an interview with federal agents in 2024, he admitted to voting twice, but said he did so to make sure his vote counted, according to federal court documents. He claimed it was a mistake. During trial, he testified that he believed it would be “sorted out,” and that one vote would not count.
“While he must accept the jury’s verdict at this juncture and has always acknowledged his poor judgment in casting his 2020 votes, he sincerely maintains exactly what he told the agents when they interviewed him in September 2024 and the jury at his trial several months ago: He made an honest (albeit perhaps unreasonable) mistake and possessed no ill intent,” his federal public defender wrote in court documents ahead of his sentencing.
His public defender said he will live with the consequences of his error, which include a federal felony conviction and an abundance of publicly reported information about the case. More than 20 friends and family wrote letters to the presiding judge, claiming Laiss is a kind man who made a mistake.
Laiss, who voted for President Donald Trump twice during that election, had argued that Trump’s pardon of allies who attempted to overturn his 2020 loss should apply to him as well, according to court filings. He argued that his case should be dismissed.
Federal prosecutors said that Laiss’ argument should be taken up with the office of the pardon attorney, and that he could not petition the trial court to “circumvent” the agency that issues pardons. The presiding judge agreed, and denied the motion.
Prosecutors pushed for a sentence of up to six months in prison.
“Attempting to vote multiple times in the same election also undermines public confidence in the legitimacy of American elections. Crimes like Mr. Laiss’s cause some people to think that American elections cannot be free and fair,” they wrote in court documents.
In addition to his probation sentence, Laiss was also ordered to pay a $6,000 fine.