Sen. Patty Murray actually let the cat out of the bag on the Senate floor during debate on the pending SAVE act.

First, let’s be clear about what this bill actually does. The SAVE America Act requires a photo ID to vote and proof of citizenship to register to vote. That’s it. There is literally nothing controversial about this.

Yet, Murray took to the floor and said, “Just consider all the people who will face new challenges just to vote, for no good reason. If you are a student who just moved to start college, Republicans will make it harder for you to vote because if this bill passes, you will need to show a photo ID and proof of citizenship in every single state, but a student ID won’t count. Many tribal IDs also won’t be enough under the new Republican restrictions.”

Read that again slowly.

Murray’s great concern is students won’t be able to vote using their college IDs. But here’s the thing — students who attend school out of state are not voting residents of that state, just because they go to school there. They are still residents of wherever home is. When elections come, if unable to return home you vote absentee in the jurisdiction of your home. That’s how it works, that’s how it has always worked, and it is entirely legal and straightforward. No student needs to vote in the state where their college is located, unless they literally go through the process of changing their residency. The scenario Murray is describing isn’t suppression — it’s a thing that shouldn’t be happening at all.

It would be interesting to see the number of students who voted absentee but also voted locally.