As it turns out, Representative Shomari Figures knows well that the overwhelming majority of adults in Alabama have an ID.
Figures was the subject this week of an absurd story—complete with conveniently edited and misquoted video of Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District rep —that claimed he was “embarrassed” at a town hall event when all attendees said they had a driver’s license. The premise was that Figures had asked the crowd how many had an ID, believing that several would state they didn’t.
An accompanying quote attributed to Figures in the “RNC Research” post on X said he sheepishly responded, “Everybody has ID… so I thought something a little bit different….”
That post on X was then picked up by other conservative media outlets, none of which bothered to actually watch the full clip. Or just the 30 seconds that followed the selectively edited clip used by RNC Research.
Had they, they would have learned that Figures was actually making the exact opposite argument—that most everyone has ID.
That’s because the overall discussion at that time during the town hall was about the SAVE Act, which places a number of burdensome requirements on citizens attempting to register to vote. Figures’ point was that while most people have an ID, a much smaller number could easily get their original birth certificate—a requirement under the SAVE Act to register.
Figures actual quote after no one raised a hand in response to his ID question was: “Everybody has an ID, right? So, my thoughts on it are a little bit different. I can get that 20, 30, 40 years ago, it was a lot different. A lot of voters did not have IDs. Didn’t have places where you could go obtain identification in a lot of communities and places, but times have changed in regards to that.”
Figures then asked the crowd how many “can put your hand on your birth certificate right now?”
Reached by phone on Thursday, Figures said he was actually in favor of requiring ID to vote and was on record with that position. He said he was confused by the lengths that someone went to to twist a rather innocuous comment into something totally different.
“It’s not as if I’ve made a secret about my position on this,” he said.
