Tuesday on "Alabama's Morning News with JT," Secretary of State John Merrill weighed in on Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl using identification he had reportedly made to vote in the last two elections.
Merrill said the ID presented to vote by Wahl was a "misrepresentation" of an official ID and that it didn't "meet the standard" to be able to vote in Alabama.
"[I]t's not legal to create any kind of state-represented identification and represent it as being a legally representative sample of what an ID should be for a state position," Merrill outlined. "That is a misrepresentation.
"I don't know what the law says about the misrepresentation of an ID and how that needs to be dealt with according to the law, but I do know this, as far as voting is concerned: the ID that was presented does not meet the standard, according to 17-9-30. And there's an outline of all of the different instruments that can be presented as credentials that show that you meet the standard as a qualified government-issued photo ID. This is not one of them."
Merrill added that Wahl would likely "acknowledge" he made a "mistake" by not using his driver's license to vote.
The state's chief election official was then asked if Wahl would face "repercussions" for using an illegal ID.
"Well, that's difficult to say because I'm not the one that enforces that," Merrill replied. "But I can tell you that there are certain people who are having that conversation."
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email trent.baker@1819news.com.
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