Wildwood woman sentenced in voter fraud case after election official lodges complaint

A Wildwood woman has been sentenced in a voter fraud case following a complaint by the Sumter County supervisor of elections.

Stevie Taylor Elizabeth Baker, 33, of Wildwood pleaded no contest this past week in Sumter County Court to a charge of voter fraud. She has been placed on probation for one year and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

Baker was arrested Aug. 31 following a complaint filed by Sumter County Supervisor of Elections William Keen.

Baker had filled out a voter registration application on Aug. 16. She is a convicted felon with a history of arrests dating back to 2010. She has faced numerous drug charges, including a 2015 arrest at was then the Motel 6 in Wildwood.

In 2018, nearly 65 percent of Flor­ida voters approved a constitutional amendment that auto­mat­ic­ally restored voting rights to most Floridians with past convictions who had completed the terms of their sentence.

However, Keen alleged that Baker still had unpaid fines in a criminal case at the time she applied for the restoration of her right to vote. In Florida, it has largely been left up to the ex-felons to determine whether they are eligible for restoration of their voting rights.

Baker still has a pending court case following her arrest on Christmas Day.

A number of Villagers were charged with casting more than one ballot in the 2020 election, but all escaped with light sentences, which consisted primarily of civics classes. Villagers who were arrested were Joan Marie Halstead, Jay Richard Ketcik, Charles Franklin Barnes and John Rider.

More recently, Robert Rivernider of Continental Country Club in Wildwood was sentenced to jail time after mailing in his dead father’s absentee ballot.