The Baltimore Sun today claims that Voter ID wouldn’t have stopped Maryland political candidate Wendy Rose from voting twice.  Rosen is the Maryland congressional candidate registered in both Florida and Maryland, and who voted twice in the same federal elections.  (Paging Eric Holder, get to Baltimore, stat).  It might be true that the requirement to show ID would not have prevented her from voting.  But it is also true that a Voter ID requirement would make it easier to prosecute Rosen.

A defense to double voting might be – “the person who voted wasn’t me!  They had to have been an imposter.”  A jury might be persuaded by this defense, but not if there is a voter ID requirement.  If there is a voter ID requirement, an election official could testify to the jury that such a requirement exists.  They could testify that nobody is allowed to vote unless the photo id matches the registration information.  In fact, in Florida, the election officials have sophisticated photo ID readers at check in some (perhaps all?) counties that is linked into the DMV database. 

If Eric Holder ever gets around to prosecuting Wendy Rosen for violating federal law, if she was double voting in states with voter ID laws, she’d have no way out.

The Baltimore Sun today claims that Voter ID wouldn’t have stopped Maryland political candidate Wendy Rose from voting twice.  Rosen is the Maryland congressional candidate registered in both Florida and Maryland, and who voted twice in the same federal elections.  (Paging Eric Holder, get to Baltimore, stat).  It might be true that the requirement to show ID would not have prevented her from voting.  But it is also true that a Voter ID requirement would make it easier to prosecute Rosen.

A defense to double voting might be – “the person who voted wasn’t me!  They had to have been an imposter.”  A jury might be persuaded by this defense, but not if there is a voter ID requirement.  If there is a voter ID requirement, an election official could testify to the jury that such a requirement exists.  They could testify that nobody is allowed to vote unless the photo id matches the registration information.  In fact, in Florida, the election officials have sophisticated photo ID readers at check in some (perhaps all?) counties that is linked into the DMV database. 

If Eric Holder ever gets around to prosecuting Wendy Rosen for violating federal law, if she was double voting in states with voter ID laws, she’d have no way out.