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MaddowBlog

From The Rachel Maddow Show

Another Republican convicted of voter fraud at Florida GOP stronghold

A surprising number of Republicans from The Villages have been convicted of trying to cheat in the 2020 elections. The list grew longer this week.

By Steve Benen

To the extent that the United States has a retirement community known to national audiences, it’s probably The Villages in central Florida. As regular readers probably recall, it’s also earned a reputation as a far-right Republican stronghold.

For example, when Donald Trump promoted a video showing a parade of supporters in golf carts — one of whom shouted, “White power” — it was recorded at The Villages.

It was against this backdrop that we learned in 2021 that three residents of The Villages were charged with voter fraud. A fourth soon followed. As WKMG in Orlando reported this week, the list now includes a fifth.

A resident from The Villages was found guilty of charges related to voter fraud in the 2020 election on Monday. Robert Rivernider Jr., 58, is accused of signing his father’s name to a vote-by-mail ballot. According to Sumter County Elections Supervisor Bill Keen, Rivernider’s father died on Oct. 19, 2020. He had a ballot dated and signed on Oct. 16, 2020, and postmarked on Oct. 23, 2020.

Officials discovered a problem with the late voter’s signature, which apparently helped lead to Rivernider’s conviction.

The local report from the CBS affiliate added, “Rivernider is a Republican Party activist, with a website that touts his experience with several party campaigns, including the Trump and Bush/Cheney presidential campaigns and the Laura Loomer congressional campaign in 2022.”

It’s also a feather in the cap for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Office of Election Crimes and Security, which has apparently managed to secure a conviction following a series of failed cases.

As for the possible consequences, Rivernider is facing the possibility of a prison sentence, though it remains to be seen whether that’ll happen. The other fraud charges against residents of The Villages ended in parole for the defendants.

Of course, they agreed to plead guilty ahead of their trials. Rivernider took his chances with a local jury, which convicted him.

He was represented by former state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, who’s running a Republican congressional campaign in Florida next year.

After the verdict was announced, the headline in The Villages’ own newspaper read, “Trumper shocked when jury finds him guilty of vote fraud.”

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

Steve Benen

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."