Federal authorities say a Margate man illegally voted in the 2020 and 2024 elections. According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District Department of Justice, in 2016 Ashley Rivers used fake documents to obtain a US passport and register to vote. Rivers used a false identity complete with a fake birth certificate.
Rivers faces up to twenty-five years in prison. He is currently held at the Broward County Jail.
Here is the press release from the DOJ:
MIAMI – A South Florida man has been charged with federal crimes after using false identity documents to apply for a U.S. passport and registering to vote (and voting) in multiple U.S. general elections using a fraudulent identity. The man, Ashley R. Rivers, 64, of Margate, Fla., is not a U.S. citizen.
According to the allegations in the indictment: Rivers submitted a U.S. passport application in 2016 under a fictitious name using fraudulent identity documents, including a fraudulent birth certificate. In 2020, Rivers registered to vote with the Broward Supervisor of Elections using the same fraudulent identity. Rivers voted in both the 2020 and 2024 U.S. general election, even though he is not a U.S. citizen, says the indictment.
Rivers made his initial appearance on yesterday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. If convicted, Rivers faces up to 25 years in federal prison.
U.S. Attorney Hayden O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida and Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Conklin of the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.
The DSS Miami Field Office is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Killoran is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
