Voting Rights Watch: Va. Republican may challenge some student votes

A Republican Party leader in Virginia has provided state elections officials with a list of about 300 college students who he says registered to vote in the state and also received absentee ballots from their home states.

Michael Wade, chair of the Republican committee for the Third Congressional District and a McCain campaign worker, asked election officials to challenge students on the list when they show up at the polls today, the Washington Times reports:

"Students who have not previously voted in the election have nothing to fear, even if they have requested and received an absentee ballot from another State, as long as they have not and will not cast it," he said. "Only those students who are intending to commit vote fraud by casting two votes in this election should worry. ... We will find out about it and we will seek to have them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

A Virginia State Board of Elections spokesperson said officials would examine the information provided by Wade. Under Virginia law, casting two ballots in a single election is a felony that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.