David French

Number one.

This is not, when somebody describes this as a voter ID bill, they are being deceptive.

First, let me just say, I have zero objection to a normal voter ID requirement.

In other words, you have a driver's license, you walk in, you show your driver's license or your state ID to show that I am the person I claim to be.

I've done that for years and years and years, voting in Tennessee, show my ID, no big deal.

This is not a pure voter ID bill.

It is not.

It is saying that when you're registering, you're going to have to prove citizenship.

Now, how do you prove citizenship?

Well, there's a list of approved ways to demonstrate citizenship in the bill that includes things like a passport, which a lot of Americans don't have, or it includes a birth certificate, which...

Tons of married women, for example, don't have a birth certificate that matches their current last name.

You know, your driver's license in most states, even your real ID driver's license isn't going to be enough.

Now, there are a few states, there's a handful of states where the driver's license is also effective as proof of citizenship.

But there's a specific list that is not just show up with your driver's license.

And so this is something that is adding layers.

It is adding hurdles that I think the vast majority of Americans aren't even aware of

because it's been presented to them as a voter ID bill, and they've got a driver's license in their pocket, and they don't think a thing about it.

They don't realize that there is this extra requirement for registration different from what they've experienced before, and that millions of them do not currently have access to the necessary documents, and to get access is going to cost money,

And it's going to cost time.

The second thing that's really interesting, and Jamel, in your latest piece, you touched on this,