Out of nowhere, Krishanti Vignarajah burst into Maryland politics. With no name recognition, experience in Maryland, or any history within the state, she filed to run as a Democrat for Governor of Maryland. There was more confusion over her filing than support.

The former policy director to Michelle Obama and part of the President Barack Obama administration had little political background or experience, and she did nothing to prepare to run for office. It seems that she felt merely having the “Obama” brand would be enough to win in a traditionally blue state.

But just as she blew in, she quickly blew out. On Wednesday, it was released that she was registered to vote in Washington, DC during the last 5 years. In Maryland, gubernatorial candidates are required to live within the state for 5 years, and most legal experts and commentaries saw this as an obvious disqualifier. However, the issue runs far deeper.

DC Legal Problems

In 2006, Vignarajah registered to vote in Baltimore County, but she never voted. Instead, she moved to North West Washington, DC, and registered to vote in 2010. According to Bethesda Beat,

Tamara Robinson, a public affairs specialist with the D.C. elections board, told Bethesda Beat Wednesday that when residents register to vote in the District, they need to cancel their voter registration in any other jurisdictions.

“On our voter registration forms, a resident must check a box that says ‘I don’t claim voting residence outside of the District of Columbia,’” Robinson said. “We consider it a legal document.”

The D.C. voter registration form notes just below the box, “If you sign this statement even though you know it is untrue, you can be convicted and fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed for up to five years.”

This is a serious problem: it was illegal for her to register to vote in DC without un-registering in Maryland. There are also issues in Maryland. This is further complicated by her current address being Gaithersburg, MD while still registered in two other locations.

Maryland Law

Under Maryland Election Law, she most likely would have been sent a notification asking if she was still a resident of Baltimore County:

3-501 (3) if the voter has moved outside the State, as determined by conducting the procedures established in 3-502 of this subtitle

3-502 (c) Change of residence outside State. — If it appears from information provided by the postal service or an agency specified in 3-504(b) of this subtitle that a voter has moved to a different address outside the State, the election official in the county where the voter most recently resided in the State shall send the voter a confirmation notice informing the voter of his or her potential inactive status as described in 3-503 of this subtitle.

If she received this notification, then she would have had to claim that she still had permanent residency in Baltimore County. If she said that she was living in DC, then she would have been removed. It is possible that Maryland did not send her a notification due to a long history of procedural errors and oversights by the Maryland Board of Elections. The Board of Elections should investigate this issue to determine what mistakes were made.

Furthermore, it is important to understand where she paid taxes. Maryland and DC have different tax rates, and residency is based primarily on where you pay taxes. This is another line of investigation that must be pursued to determine the extent and nature of her fraudulent registrations.

More Issues

According to Vignarajah, she did not vote in Maryland because “sometimes there are situations in the world that don’t allow a person to make an hour drive to Catonsville in the middle of the day.”

Not only does Maryland have lengthy early voting and absentee voting options, Catonsville is less than an hour drive from DC. It would be odd that she would work for President Obama and not be willing to vote for him. However, records show that she did vote in the 2014 general election in DC.

This makes her response far more concerning: she would have voted in DC and Maryland if she was able to, based on her logic. This shows the willful desire to commit double voting but was prevented by extenuating circumstances. This is ironic coming from someone who claims there is no voter fraud:

Not only was it illegal for Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh to deny the Federal Government access to voter information, the information would have revealed that she was simultaneously registered in two different jurisdictions.

Her own actions prove that a country wide voter database is necessary to ensure that there is no voter fraud, and it would also allow DC to enforce their laws prohibiting Vignarajah from being registered in DC while registered in Maryland.