A Bucks County woman who was one of two charged for election fraud was sentenced to county prison earlier this week.
Melissa Ann Fisher, 53, of Quakertown Borough, was sentenced Monday by Common Pleas President Judge Wallace Bateman to three to 23 months in the Bucks County Correctional Facility and three years of probation for violation of provisions relating to absentee and mail-in ballots and two unrelated theft cases in Upper Buck County, according to prosecutors. The news was first reported by the Doylestown Intelligencer.
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Last fall, Fisher, a therapist, pleaded guilty to the election-related misdemeanor.
The judge, according to the newspaper’s report, said Fisher’s actions “undermined” democracy and she thought her vote was more important than everyone else’s.
Fisher signed the declaration on the ballot for her recently deceased mother and submitted for the November 2020 general election, according to authorities.
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A handwriting analysis determined Fisher’s mother did not sign the ballots, authorities said.
County detectives uncovered that Fisher’s mother died on September 21, 2020 and the first ballots were not mailed until October 7, 2020.
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According to state records, Fisher is a registered Democrat.
A second woman charged with signing a mail-in ballot for her recently deceased mother in the 2020 election was put through a criminal justice system diversionary program. No records on her case are available through the state court system.
The woman – Danielle Elaine Dooner, 56, of Buckingham Township – is a registered Republican, according to state records.
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The two cases were the only ones where charges were filed in relation to the 2020 election in Bucks County.
Last year, District Attorney Matt Weintraub said the Bucks County Detectives investigated 22 complaints in the 2020 election season and found “no widespread or systematic election fraud here in Bucks County.”
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The district attorney said the complaints ranged from residency problems, voter intimidation, threats to election officials, and possible ballot tampering.
Referrals for the investigations came from a number of sources, including politicos, residents, and other government agencies.
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