My Father Died of COVID. His Mail-in Ballot in the 2020 election Was Never Counted. A Public Warning for Families of the Elderly and Dying.
A formal request for review has been delivered to Tallahassee. Scripture, the trial record, and a notice to every family that helps an aging or dying relative vote.
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”
— Proverbs 18:17
On August 9 a formal request was delivered to Tallahassee asking Florida officials to examine the circumstances surrounding the COVID-related death of my father, Navy veteran Robert Henry Rivernider Sr., and the events that followed.
His vote-by-mail ballot was delivered to him on October 1, 2020. The return envelope was dated October 16 while he was still alive. He died on October 19. The envelope was postmarked October 23 and received by the Supervisor of Elections office on October 26. It was rejected. No vote was ever counted.
Nearly three years later a criminal prosecution was filed. At trial the State called only three witnesses. No witness testified from personal observation that I placed the envelope in the mail. The handwriting examiner said I “probably” wrote the disputed signature but did not make a conclusive identification. The physical ballot itself was removed from the exhibit before the jury deliberated. Even the prosecutor corrected himself in closing argument from calling it the “ballot in question” to the “envelope in question.”
Yet the public was repeatedly told that I had voted my dead father’s ballot.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
— Exodus 20:16
That public narrative has shaped how courts, officials, and the media describe me. I am asking that the actual evidence be examined: who first handled the envelope, what condition it was in at intake, when the “DECEASED” notation was placed on it, who possessed it after my father’s death, and who ultimately mailed it. I am also asking why the original investigative election witness was removed from the State’s witness list shortly before trial after defense counsel requested a deposition.
This request arrives as Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, joined by other state attorneys general, has issued investigative subpoenas examining potential harms and guidance from COVID-era governmental actions involving Dr. Anthony Fauci. I have asked that my family be considered for potential-victim or witness review in that ongoing inquiry. The submission does not presume that any individual has already been proven legally responsible for my father’s death.
This is also a public emergency notice.
Florida law allows limited, carefully defined assistance for voters who are blind, disabled, or unable to read or write, and it provides procedures for eligible voters in assisted-living and nursing-home facilities. Immediate family members may perform certain vote-by-mail functions permitted by statute. But the line between lawful help and a felony is not always clear to ordinary families.
What happened in my case shows why that clarity is urgent — especially in communities with large numbers of senior citizens. A ballot mailed to a living voter, a return envelope dated while he was still alive, an item later rejected so that no vote was ever counted, and no trial witness who saw the mailing — yet the public story became “he voted his dead father’s ballot,” and the consequences have been severe.
Families who in good faith try to help an elderly, seriously ill, or dying relative should not be left to guess about conduct that can carry felony consequences. I am asking Florida officials to provide clear, statute-based guidance so that people trying to do the right thing are not destroyed for it.
“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
— Proverbs 31:8–9
My father can no longer speak. I am asking that the record of what happened to his election materials, and how that record was later described to the public, be examined carefully and truthfully.
“Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.”
— Isaiah 59:14
I cannot undo the years that have passed. But the public record can still be corrected. I am asking for an independent examination of what the jury actually heard and saw, and how an uncounted vote became a prosecution that has affected my freedom and my name.
“Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause…”
— Psalm 43:1
Primary-source materials are available for review, including the death certificate, Supervisor of Elections records, the original election materials, trial transcripts, post-trial filings, the 2013 federal sentencing record, and the September 8, 2025 Gladson letter.
Contact:
Robert H. Rivernider
mailto:freedom51420@iCloud.com
Support the effort to correct the public record and pursue independent review:
Support the fight https://www.givesendgo.com/GodCast
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
— John 8:32
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