Florida Trump supporter accused of faking signature on dead father’s 2020 mail ballot

A Florida GOP activist has been arrested after election authorities accused him of faking his dead father’s signature on a vote-by-mail ballot.

Robert Henry Rivernider Jr. is charged with forgery and voter fraud, court records show. The 58-year-old Wildwood man was released Saturday from Sumter County jail on a $10,000 bond.

Rivernider signed a vote-by-mail ballot for his deceased father, Robert Henry Rivernider Sr., in 2020 as then President Donald Trump was about a month away from losing his re-election bid against Joe Biden, according to an elections fraud complaint signed by Sumter County Supervisor of Elections William Keen. Rivernider Jr. says — without evidence — that the ex-president won the election.

Keen said in the complaint that Rivernider Sr.’s vote-by-mail ballot was dated Oct. 16, 2020 and that he died on Oct. 19 while his ballot’s envelope was postmarked Oct. 23 — seven days after his death. Since the envelope was postmarked after the date of his death, Keen said, the ballot wasn’t counted.

“However, based on comparison of signatures for both Jr. and Sr., there appear to be similarities between the signatures in the 2020 election that match Jr.’s signature, but not prior versions of Sr.’s signature,” Keen noted in the Aug. 8 complaint. “On information and belief, it is alleged that Jr. signed the ballot of Sr. in the 2020 election.”

A Sumter County Sheriff’s deputy arrested Rivernider Jr. outside of his home Friday.

Rivernider Jr., who told the Miami Herald that he helps “anti-establishment candidates,” called the charges filed against him “frivolous and political,” and said — without evidence — that “someone” put Keen up to it.

“What makes the Supervisor of Elections pick a dead persons mail in ballot out 3 years after the election and then search other mail in ballots to compare the signatures?” Rivernider Jr. told the Herald in a Wednesday email.

Walter Forgie, chief assistant state attorney of the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, sees things differently.

“Our office takes these charges very seriously and will prosecute the case accordingly,” he told the Herald. “We appreciate the work of the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections office on this matter.”