Another Florida Resident Caught Committing Voter Fraud

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A fourth resident of the largely — although not entirely — pro-Trump retirement community in Florida known as The Villages has entered into an agreement with local authorities admitting to a criminal charge of voter fraud. Specifically, this individual — John Rider — voted twice, as did the other three who were charged.

Predictably, it doesn’t seem as though Trump has made any public comment about the cases out of The Villages, although he has obviously been obsessed with pursuing imaginary claims of widespread election fraud. It’s unclear if Trump has made any public comment about multiple cases of election fraud involving a GOP official in a coastal county in New York and the wife of a Republican official in Iowa. In both situations, those charged were responsible for fraudulently submitting absentee ballots with local residents’ personal information — clear-cut fraud. (There’s seemingly no indication these isolated instances of misconduct would have been enough to change the outcome of any election.) In this case out of The Villages, The New York Times previously reported Rider, who voted in 2020 in Florida and New York, had no affiliation with a political party on file.

Two of the others who were charged were registered Republicans, and the fourth was also an independent voter, like Rider. Rider, the latest to admit to the offense, will avoid any time in jail, assuming he conforms to the terms of his deal with authorities. Part of the deal will involve Rider paying $500 in place of requirements for community service. A report in a local news outlet noted the three others who already entered into deals with prosecutors were required to take courses in civics. The charges against the group were felony offenses and could have delivered years-long stints in prison if they were convicted. Trump personally has a campaign history in The Villages, where he held a campaign rally before the 2020 election after touting local support for his presidential bid on Twitter.

Separately, Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis also touted action by a state team against individuals accused of violating restrictions on those previously charged with felonies casting a ballot. For several of those charged, it’s decidedly unclear they had any specific intent to violate the law or knowledge they were doing so, with circumstances including apparent assistance from staff at a local government office in registering to vote at all. Judges already ruled against multiple cases on jurisdictional grounds, questioning whether the state team could step in and bring charges for actions committed locally. Dismissing the charge for a lack of jurisdiction doesn’t necessarily imply the charge would otherwise have merit.