A formalism is presented for the investigation of the reaction ed → e K + n in the relativistic impulse approximation. The formalism is based on a tree-level, effective Lagrangian model for the underlying virtual photoproduction reaction amplitude which incorporates a variety of baryon resonances with spins up to 5 2 and the two kaon resonances, K (892) and K1(1270). The parameters of the model were fit to a large pool of proton photoproduction data from the CLAS, GRAAL, SAPHIR, and LEPS Collaborations and to CLAS data for the virtual photoproduction structure functions σ U , σ T , σ L , σ T T , σ LT , and σ LT . The final-state n interaction is incorporated in the model by means of a three-dimensional overlap integral based on a simple phenomenological n potential. Results are presented for both the differential cross section, dσ/d K , and the double differential cross section, dσ/d K dE K , for the virtual photoproduction of positive kaons and 's from the deuteron.