Former Bucks County man who voted twice for Trump convicted of voter fraud
Matthew Laiss claimed he was covered by pardons given by President Donald Trump to supporters who tried to overturn the 2020 election.
A former Bucks County man who claimed he was covered by pardons given by President Donald Trump to supporters who tried to overturn the 2020 election was found guilty Wednesday by a federal jury in Philadelphia of voting twice for Trump in 2020.
Matthew Laiss, 32, was charged by indictment in September of one count of voting more than once in a federal election and one count of voter fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 10 and faces a maximum of five years in prison on both counts.
Laiss, who prosecutors said is currently a resident of Bethehem, Pa., had been a resident of — and was registered to vote in — Ottsville, Bucks County, from at least 2012 to around August 2020, prosecutors said. Laiss then moved to Frostproof, Fla., where he obtained a driver’s license and registered to vote there.
Around Oct. 31, 2020, Laiss filled out and returned a mail-in Pennsylvania ballot, then on Nov. 3, 2020, Laiss went to a polling place in Florida and voted again.
“Today’s conviction reinforces a simple principle: our elections must be fair, secure, and lawful, ” U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said in a statement.
“Casting a ballot in more than one jurisdiction undermines public trust and dilutes the votes of others. Our office will continue to protect the integrity of federal elections and hold accountable those who violate the law,” Metcalf said.
The case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of State, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dubnoff.
Federal defenders who represented Laiss could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
Lawyers for Laiss had argued to U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr. that a pardon proclamation Trump issued last year on Nov. 7 applied to Laiss, and that Laiss had accepted it.
Laiss was not among the 77 people Trump listed when specifying who would receive relief, but Laiss’ lawyers said the proclamation’s preamble included language making it applicable to “all United States citizens” for conduct, voting, or advocacy surrounding the contest.
His lawyers wrote that Trump allies including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Mark Meadows were all explicitly pardoned for “exponentially more egregious alleged conduct.” Extending relief to them while denying it to Laiss, his lawyers wrote, “would be outrageous.”
Prosecutors said they checked with Trump’s Office of the Pardon Attorney and were told that the lawyers there did not believe the pardon proclamation applied to Laiss.
In January, Leeson ruled against Laiss’ motion to dismiss the indictment, explaining that the court was without jurisdiction to decide the matter because Laiss had not applied to the Office of the Pardon Attorney, or had received a certificate of pardon.