FORMER EATONVILLE MAYOR Anthony Grant is sentenced to probation and community service Friday in a voting-fraud case.

Ex-Eatonville Mayor Anthony Grant avoided prison time Friday, as a judge sentenced him to four years of probation and 400 community service hours for his conviction on voting-fraud charges.

A jury found Grant, 51, guilty last month of felony voting fraud, a felony election violation and a misdemeanor absentee-voting violation. The former mayor was given credit for 25 days served in the Orange County Jail.

A campaign aide, Mia Antoinette Nowells, also did not receive prison time, as OrangeOsceola Judge Keith Carsten sentenced her to two years of probation and 200 community service hours. A jury found her guilty of one felony charge.

During the hearing, the two defendants sat handcuffed on opposite sides of the jury box in jail-issued navy blue jumpsuits. Both cracked brief smiles at the news they’d be heading home Friday.

Afterwards, about two dozen supporters were jubilant in the hallway and shared hugs and handshakes in celebration.

Grant, who faced a maximum of 11 years in prison, took the stand to apologize to victims and asked the court for leniency. He told stories of times he mentored children and helped the elderly in Eatonville throughout his tenure as mayor.

“This has been one of the most disappointing times of my life … I hope you’ll give me a second chance at this,” he said. “I won’t disappoint my family, my friends and my community.”

Gary Dorst, Grant’s lawyer, said his client was a year away from retirement after working 24 years for the city of Orlando.

After the jury reached a verdict, the city fired Grant — which cost him eight months of vacation time he had saved up and the medical benefits he’d be entitled to for the rest of his life, Dorst said.

Nowells’ friends and family lauded her as an excellent mother and friend who was caught up in an unintended situation.

Now a convicted felon, Grant’s days in elected office are over.

He’d been a staple in Eatonville politics for much of the past two decades. He was mayor of the small town from 1994 to 2009.

He made another run for the seat in 2015 against Bruce Mount, which is when his current legal troubles began.

Grant defeated Mount despite receiving fewer votes at the polls. Grant received 196

absentee votes to Mount’s 69, which swung the election in Grant’s favor.

Finding the discrepancy odd, Mount filed a lawsuit that was tossed out on a technicality.

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted its own investigation, and a grand jury indicted Grant and two campaign aides on 25 charges last year.

Prosecutors said they coerced voters into submitting absentee ballots for Grant.

The jury determined the other indicted campaign aide was innocent of the charge he faced.