A Carver, MA, man has pled guilty to three counts of vote fraud, one a felony, according to Assistant Attorney General Stephen LaBonte.



Lorin C. Schneider Jr. pled guilty in Hillsborough County District Superior Court and will received a one to three year suspended sentence and a $5,000 fine, plus a 24 percent penalty assessment. Schneider, who has been living in Massachusetts for about two decades, had been regularly returning to New Hampshire to vote during the First-in-the-Nation primary and presidential elections in Ward 9 in Manchester despite not legally living there, according to the state. He was indicted last year.

"Someone at the polling place knew him as a child and knew he lived in Massachusetts," according to LaBonte. "An investigator located him in Carver, found that he had voted there, interviewed him, and he admitted to illegally voting in New Hampshire." LaBonte said Schneider voted in the 2008 presidential election and the 2012 presidential primary, taking a Democratic ballot. That year, President Barack Obama had 13 opponents but none were considered credible or viable.

"He stated to us is that he basically said he wanted to vote in the First-in-the-Nation primary and he believed that his voted counted up here more than in Massachusetts," he said. The sentencing is based on good behavior during the next five years and payment of the fine. Schneider has also lost his right to vote in New Hampshire, even if otherwise qualified, as a result of his conviction.

LaBonte said it is unknown how long Schneider had been voting in New Hampshire but believed he had been doing so during presidential elections for a long time, possible the entire 20-plus years he has lived in Massachusetts. It was the first time during his time at the attorney general's officer investigating fraud allegations that they were able to get a prosecution and conviction, he noted.

LaBonte is also the point person in the AG's office eyeing voter affidavits from the 2012 election, a story first reported on Patch. The Schneider prosecution had no connection to that case which is still ongoing, according to LaBonte.