The Florida Legislature has approved a bill (HB 991) that will require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote, similar to federal legislation being advocated for by President Trump and Republicans in Congress. But while the Trump-backed SAVE Act is heading for defeat in Washington, Republicans are celebrating their achievement in Tallahassee.
“The Florida version of the SAVE Act is about to pass the Legislature,” a happy Ron DeSantis announced on social media shortly after the vote.
The bill also will remove student IDs from being an acceptable form of identification at the polls.
The GOP-controlled Florida House approved the measure Thursday evening, 77-28. The vote came hours after the Senate approved the measure, mostly along party lines, 27-12.
Miami Republican Alexis Calatayud joined all the Democrats in opposing the measure, and independent Jason Pizzo joined the Republicans in supporting it. The bill will head to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk and he is expected to sign it into law. However, it will not go into effect until January 2027 — following November’s midterm elections.
It’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote in Florida and, in 2020, the prohibition was enshrined into the Florida Constitution. But Republicans say the new measure will ensure “voter integrity.”
“Yes, we have safe elections in Florida, but they don’t stay safe and secure if we don’t pay attention to the large gaps that exist where we can address additional fraud,” said Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, who sponsored the measure in the Senate.
In 2025, the state found 198 “likely noncitizens who illegally registered and/or voted in Florida” out of the more than 13 million people on its voter rolls, according to a January 2026 report from the state’s Office of Election Crimes and Security. The office referred 170 of them to state and federal law enforcement for further investigation and prosecution. The remaining 28 individuals it referred to the Division of Elections for list maintenance.
The bill says that the U.S. citizenship status of every Florida voter would need to be verified through the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles records before their voter registration is considered valid.
Applicants would need to prove their citizenship by providing one of the following:
- A REAL ID-compliant driver’s license.
- A U.S. birth certificate.
- A current and valid U.S. passport.
- A Consular Report of Birth Abroad from the U.S. Department of State.
- A naturalization certificate, certificate of citizenship, certificate number, or an alien registration number issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
- A current and valid photo identification issued by the federal government or from Florida that indicates U.S. citizenship.
- An order from a federal court granting U.S. citizenship.
The bill’s supporters note that it would not affect voters who have already had their citizenship verified when they received a Florida driver’s license compliant with REAL ID standards.
How many eligible voters will this new law affect?
Critics say this hurts voters who lack those acceptable forms of ID.
“This legislation assumes voters have easy access to original and/or certified documents, but research conducted in 2023 by the Brennan Center for Justice indicates that more than 9% of American citizens of voting age don’t have their proof of citizenship readily available,” said League of Women Voters of Florida President Jessica Lowe-Minor in a written statement. “Only half of Americans have a passport, and a majority of married women are unlikely to have a birth certificate in their current legal name.”
During debate on the House floor last month, Rep. Ashley Gantt, D-Miami, introduced an amendment that she said would address people like her aunt, born at home in South Carolina during the Jim Crow era and never issued a birth certificate.
“As written, the bill will block eligible U.S. citizens from registering to vote and remove longtime voters from the rolls. This is reality, not conjecture,” she said.
Critics also note that after a similar law in Kansas was stuck down by the courts, it was revealed in litigation that the legislation blocked voter registrations of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens who were otherwise eligible to vote.
Sen. Kristen Arrington, D-Kissimmee, said the most troubling aspect of the bill is that it wasn’t clear how many voters would be harmed. During a Senate floor debate Wednesday, Grall did cite statistics from the state from January that said 20.6 million people in Florida hold a REAL-ID-compliant driver’s license and 872,408 who did not.
Student IDs will no longer be acceptable
The Senate added an amendment previously passed in the House to remove certain forms of identification from being acceptable. Most controversially, student IDs will no longer be work — nor will retirement center IDs, neighborhood association IDs, military IDs, or debit or credit cards.
Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, filed an amendment (later voted down) to continue to allow student and retirement IDs to be acceptable. He said the exclusionary provision of the bill will have a “chilling effect” on the youth vote.
“When did students become the enemy?” asked Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee. “I can imagine a long line of students go to vote and they have their student IDs and they get turned away. They’re not coming back. They’re not going to fix it.”
But Republicans countered that a student ID does not indicate citizenship.
“We want people who are legal to vote, we want citizens to be able to vote,” said Sen. Ralph Massullo, R-Lecanto. “We don’t just want just someone that might have an ID for whatever reason and maybe their ID doesn’t necessarily identify that they’re a citizen of this state.”
Heated debate
An amendment requiring a candidate running for office to state in writing whether he or she holds dual citizen sparked intense pushback from House Democrats on the floor Thursday night.
“Dual citizenship doesn’t make somebody anymore or less loyal to this country,” said Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Parkland.
“A lot of other things in my opinion would make people more or less loyal to this country, and it’s disturbing that out of all the things we could have chosen to add as a qualification, that this was the one that was so desperately important right now, especially at a time when our president mentions removing the U.S. citizenship from naturalized citizens.”
The bill also requires the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, starting in 2027, to include legal status on any new or renewed driver’s license or identification card.
The measure requires federal candidates in the state to disclose on their qualifying forms whether they intend to trade stocks if elected, and prohibits anyone from running if they changed their legal name in the 365 days before the qualifying deadline. The law would not apply to people who have changed their names after marriage, divorce, or adoption of children.
The measure is similar to the SAVE America Act which has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, in that it would require proof of citizenship to vote. The SAVE America Act would also require voter ID, which has been the law in Florida for decades.
The Florida Supervisors of Elections did not take a position on the bill.
Wendy Sartory Link, president of that organization, told the Phoenix, “We did provide some comments to it throughout the process, some of which were incorporated.”
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
What Else Is New says
Jim Crow Bill 991. Color it black and brown. Republicans have proven their hate for people of color, the poor, and the aged. What’s next? If it’s not chickens it’s feathers.
Deborah Coffey says
All based on Trump’s BIG LIE because he’s so childish that he can’t stand losing anything. He LOST the 2020 election. Period. 63 courts said so. Every agency that investigated across America said so. And the Heritage Foundation has just 10 undocumented immigrants in total appearing in its database for unlawful voting.” TEN. This is Trump and his Fascist sycophants looking for a problem that does not exist…like nuclear weapons in Iran. So, most Americans and Floridians are not stupid; they get the point of the SAVE ACT and this Florida nonsense…prevent people from voting so that Republicans can hold power and money forever. Their corruption and hatred of “others” know no bounds and, neither does their SELF-INTEREST.
Chipd says
Can someone please explain to me why requiring an ID to vote is racist? Also is it true that if you wanted to shovel snow in NYC after the blizzard you needed to produce 4 different forms of ID? That sounds ridiculous. Was that disinformation?
Pierre Tristam says
It’s not racist. It’s disenfranchising and unnecessary, since there’s hardly any evidence of fraud, and none that would matter statistically. This is purely a disenfranchising move by the GOP, to whom voters are poison. The snow shoveling ID thing was pretty idiotic (and of course turned into a Benghazi-size scandal by the red-baiting press) but it hardly compares.
Chipd says
It’s quite interesting that there is massive fraud when it comes to government programs, Medicare and medicaid, unemployment benefits etc. but little or no voter fraud. And by the way, I don’t watch Fox News.
Pierre Tristam says
Chip, the “massive fraud” in government programs is also overblown. I once wrote a column about how 60 Minutes, CBS’s 60 Minutes, broadcast a whole segment about the $60 billion in Medicare fraud that proved–that I proved–to be bullshit: ““60 Minutes”‘ $60 Billion Lie About Medicare.” Nevertheless, people commit fraud to get something–money or benefits, and half the time they the sort of desperate people whose government is denying them their due anyway. What does voter fraud get you? Who, in a country where half the people don’t vote, is dumb enough to imagine that voting fraudulently will make a difference, or even dumber to think that a coordinated voting fraud effort wouldn’t be detected by both Voyagers faster than the speed of light, and they’re both over 13 billion miles away. We should not feed into myths. We should be busting hem.
JC says
Not understanding how it is disenfranchising, please go on….
Deborah Coffey says
Read the bill? Or, watch real news that’s been reading the bill and explaining it for a week.
JC says
I read the bill and I am not seeing any real disenfranchising measures. Bill when signed by the gov won’t go into effect until 2027.
Laurel says
Next Presidential election is 2028. Get it now?
JC says
Nope, because unlike you I read the bill and I am not seeing any disenfranchising measures. Majority of people don’t actually read the bills that come out from the capital, I do.
R.S. says
How about helping to raise the passport funds for people who live day to day or who live unhoused or who are too busy worrying about the food for the next day?! I strongly suspect that the next step will be to raise the prices for all such evidence of citizenship so as to perfect the grab for power on the part of the plutocrats.
joe says
I’ll go further than Pierre, there is NO evidence of any sustained, systematic voter fraud, period. This is simply Trump’s knowing lie, spread over and over, that too many have swallowed.
James says
“… is it true that if you wanted to shovel snow in NYC after the blizzard you needed to produce 4 different forms of ID? …”
I don’t know, I haven’t been to NY in years… so I can’t speak of the situation as it is nowadays.
But no.
But than again, I never shovelled snow for a living.
I guess it would depend on who’s walk you’re shoveling.
Just-a-repond’n.
James says
I mean if ya were a-shovel’n someone’s else’s walk.
But if’n it’s yer own’n?
Pogo says
The project j ellis bush (feckless 1st victim of trump) began in 1999 continues:
“… There would be no greater tribute to our maturity as a society than if we can make these buildings around us empty of workers; silent monuments to the time when government played a larger role than it deserved or could adequately fill …”
https://aif.com/information/2003/sn030107.html
Not nearly enough credit is given to the useful idiots that Floriduh’s Republican Party has had as a so-called opposition.
Eat up suckers, it’s all that there is.
EC: File
Laurel says
“Republicans often argue that restricting voting is necessary to improve election security and prevent voter fraud, which they claim is a significant issue, despite evidence showing that such fraud is exceedingly rare. Critics, however, contend that these restrictions disproportionately affect minority voters and are aimed at reducing voter turnout among groups that typically support Democrats, thus benefiting Republican candidates.”
– Search Assist, Wikipedia, afj.org
Cheat, cheat, cheat! That’s the new Republican way. They clearly don’t give a damn what the U.S. citizens want. They are willing to take down our rights to enrich themselves personally. They are picking on students because students have become disillusioned with Trump. Obvious! They are targeting women, as women have name changes and tend to vote democratic. Obvious! They are focused on the marginal as it is harder for them to provide the paperwork, such as birth certificates or passports. Obvious!
What of adopted people?
A simple fact: Being born here does not mean a person has remained a citizen of the U.S..
I’m not a Democrat, but I hope this backfires for the simple reason of our democracy.
These Republicans are the tail wagging the dog.
Laurel says
What about dual citizenships? How does that work?
joe says
More facts:
“Kansas offers a case study of how a documentary proof requirement would likely play out in practice. Before the law took effect, noncitizen registration in Kansas was exceedingly rare, accounting for about 0.002% of registered voters. After adoption, the documentary proof of citizenship requirement prevented roughly 31,000 eligible citizens, or 12% of all applicants, from registering to vote. In short, the law prevented far more citizens from registering to vote than noncitizens.
That, of course, is the Republican plan. And that’s red-state Kansas! Key elections these days are often won on thin margins. GOP lawmakers know how to slice them.”
Sherry says
Although the Maga indoctrinated will tell you that birth certificates are Not required to vote. Well, here it is!!! As previously stated:
OK. . . It seems to me that the Maga Republicans are not thinking this through.
Are they really going to require the multi-millions of women who have changed their last names due to adoption/marriage/divorce to VOTE “In Person” and to bring with them:
1. Their birth certificate = Last Name # 1
2. Their adoption papers when their step father adopted them= Last Name # 2
2. Their marriage license= Last Name # 3
3. Their divorce decree when they changed their name to their mother’s maiden name= Last Name # 4
4. Their marriage license when they got married again= Last Name #5
and on, and on, and on. . . all to prove why their drivers license has a different last name than their birth certificate!
Fu@#$%g Idiots!
Sherry says
As Previously stated:
Suppressing the rights of anyone who is not a US born “white male” is the foundational motivation behind much of the Maga alternative reality.
Maga knows there is NO voter fraud. They are just using that as an excuse to intimidate and suppress the votes of anyone who is not the “Right” (AKA Republican) voter. Meaning those who are poor and can’t afford a passport. Those who do not drive and don’t have a driver’s license or a convenient way to a polling place. Polling places are becoming less convenient in some areas. Those who are “Naturalized” legal citizens who may not have access to their “certified” birth certificate. People of color, in general.
Why is trump trying to stop mail in voting? Those a paper ballots from people who have gone through the complex registration process. Why is he trying to “nationalize” voting. . . so “he” can control it?
Whether the “name change” hoops I laid out are done during the voting registration process or during the actual voting process, it is unduly burdensome on women!
I personally would like to see the Presidential election process be much simpler by eliminating the electoral college completely.
Tiffany Gonzales Jackson says
Folks the fix to this fascism and racism is real simple… Show up! Want a better government? Be a better citizen. Voting is a responsibility that all democracies are built upon. But when you only have a third or lower of the eligible voters showing up for local and state elections, this is what you get. A fringe group of deplorables running our government.
Show up! Make the nonsense you hear about everyday back fire in their face. Show up! Do your duty. It’s happening in Texas and Georgia. Surely it can happen here in Florida. Make it blow up in their disgusting faces.
Sherry says
@ Tiffany. . . You are right, “EVERYONE” who can should vote no matter how difficult the fascist make it to do so!
Unfortunately, in the meantime, the roadblocks to voting are piling up for Republicans as well as Democrats for those who are:
* Disabled
* Do not drive
* Have had name changes
* Cannot get off work for hours
* Were born in other countries and LEGALLY immigrated here
* Polling place changed without notice
* Polling place is far away
* Intimidtion/very long lines at polling places
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Shark says
Looks like most ot the elections in the future will be won by Democrats because most of the fraud was on the republican side !!!
Give your id says
What is so hard about showing an ID to cast a vote ? Seems simple enough.
There are many other places in everyday life where a simple ID is required. Such as banks & airports
Doesn’t seem unreasonable at all
Deborah Coffey says
You didn’t bother to read the bill if you think that showing an ID is all that’s required.
Land of no turn signals says says
ID,ID,and more ID then there will be no question about voter fraud.You have to show ID for a lot of things I don;t understand the problem.I guess it gives one less things the libs can push against.Hey maybe they can protest on the side of the road I always get a good laugh from that.
Pierre Tristam says
Let’s not conflate “showing ID” with the intent of this law, which requires a lot more than “showing ID.” Half this country’s citizens don;t have passports and cannot easily prove citizenship without the sort of hassles that are not required when you flip any kind of ID at the post office to retrieve a parcel–or, until now, when you could show innumerable forms of ID so you could vote, student IDs included. You don’t understand the problem because you’re wedded to it, enabling and thriving on it even though you could not show me five cases of malicious voter fraud in Flagler County in any of the last 50 elections. Go ahead and try. Spoiler: you’ll fail. So the question isn’t whether you understand the resistance to the new rule or not. It’s why the rule is necessary in the first place–if not to disenfranchise.
JC says
Student ID hasn’t been accepted form of ID for many locations for many years. When I was up in college in Jacksonville at UNF the only time Student ID was used was for any discounts. Can’t really use Student ID if buying alcohol, checking places to rent, opening a checking/savings account at Community First CU on UNF campus, and Student ID can be provided even if you aren’t an American Citizen (which make sense since Universities accepted people from all over). During early voting up in Jacksonville an UNF building was used as an early voting site where barely any students show up and vote (Even with giant signs saying early voting location is here). Some of the poll workers who worked for the Duval County SOE that I talked to didn’t get why continue to allow early voting locations at Universities if barely anyone is using them, not even the students. End of the day, having early voting locations cost the local SOE money and should be used for locations that people will show up at vote.
Also I lol at this statement: “Half this country’s citizens don;t have passports and cannot easily prove citizenship without the sort of hassles that are not required….” Please provide evidence that half the citizens of this country who don’t have a passport and cannot easily prove citizenship status? I am saying this as someone who don’t have any password and it super easy for me to prove that I am a citizen.
Laurel says
Approximately 45% to 50% of U.S. citizens have a valid passport, which translates to around 169 million valid U.S. passports in circulation as of early 2026.
rusticpathways.com USAFacts
Okay?
JC says
Not ok because from the previous comment of the site owner: “Half this country’s citizens don;t have passports and cannot easily prove citizenship without the sort of hassles that are not required….”
That is a super bullshit statement. I know plenty of people without passports who are US citizens who were able to became registered voters on top of having all the paperwork if needed. Life requires paperwork, which is mostly the same paperwork needed to get a Real ID Driver License/State ID to begin with.
Laurel says
And your friends just now registered? The law is new.
JC says
They been registered for years and decades. As I responded to you from another post since Laurel keep repeating her talking points over and over without reading the bill, this is for new voter registration.
Also keep in mind, once signed the law doesn’t go into effect in 2028. The bill is clear if you already have a Real ID State/Driver license and are a citizen (which was required to prove to even get a Real ID to begin with, thanks Federal Government), then you are golden. If you don’t have one, you have other options as stated on the bill.
Atwp says
Democrats please get the proper ID. Slap the Republicans in their faces. This bill will also hurt Republicans also. Am I’m the only person to believe that perhaps this is the beginning of voter crackdown on people of color? Are we gradually going back to the Jim Crowe days? Are we going back to the days when the only people that had a right to vote were rich so called white men? Time will tell. I have my id, I will not let the Republicans stop me from voting. African American and White folks died so I and my people could have a right to vote.
Laurel says
Atwp: You are mostly correct. However, this is not just a suppression of people of color, but of people whom the Republicans believe may vote Democratic.
Trump fought hard to stay out of prison. Voting Democratic is a real threat to him.
Atwp says
Ty.
Atwp says
Young men of color, please stay out of trouble. Stay out of jail and prison, if you go you probably will not be able to vote. I believe this American System don’t want you to vote or have any freedoms, please stay out of trouble. Please don’t give this anti people of color system a reason to put you in jail or stop you from voting. This system thrives on putting young men of color in prison, stay clean don’t give them a reason to put you in the slammer. I’m almost 70, never been locked up, if I stayed out of jail you can too. They want to make you immobile don’t let that happen to you. It is hard to thrive if you are immobile, please stay mobile and thrive, I did and you can do the same.
Nephew of Uncle Sam says
People, it’s 2026 and the Mid-Terms should make some wake up. Your Vote Is Your Voice. Dismal showing at the last mid-terms so why repeat that when you have a chance to make a difference. Start getting educated now on all the candidates, Local – State – Federal, and Volunteer some of your time to help those candidates get elected. Many of the non-partisan races WILL be settled at the Primary Election August 18th 2026, your local candidates directly affect you and your family.
Mr. Bill says
This voter ID law is genius. It gets rid of a lot of so-called “leftist” voters and makes the world safe for the rest of us. Just consider these three groups.
1. “persons of color” that vote mindlessly for Democrats……Well known fact as expressed by liberals that it is almost impossible for them to have a valid ID. Something about “not being able to pass tests or read proper”…proof….we heard this from the Gov. of California.
2. Hard core leftist idealogues that say, “no MAGA can make me show ID”
3. Create legal confusion with the vote harvesters, so they will go the way of the dodo bird.
Just to name a few.
Ain’t it great?
Deborah Coffey says
One hopes that the blatant racism, bigotry and desire for lawlessness expressed openly in your post is sarcasm? Otherwise, we don’t ever need to hear from you again. Thanks.
Laurel says
And there it is: Mr. Bill’s Big Beautiful Bigotry! At least he doesn’t try to hide it. The bigot is out of the closet!
Voter says
Trump is well aware the Republican party is going to lose in any upcoming elections and he can only blame himself for lying to the American people about reducing prices when in fact prices for everything have risen because of him.
Now he has started a war and taxpayers are footing the bill of billions of dollars a day. You never hear a word out of his mouth how he is improving the living of the American people.
He has destroyed our allies around the world, our country is no long safe because of his careless actions.
The Republican Party doesn’t seem to care that he has raped young girls as they claim to be a holly roller party.
He threatens anyone that disagrees with him. He is the biggest con man that every lived and has con the Republican party to go along with whatever he says or demands.
Ask yourself how has he helped you personally and I would bet your answer is nothing.
He himself votes by mail but yells voting by mail isn’t safe just like he said the COVID vaccine isn’t safe but always gets one himself. That is the perfect example of a real phony.
JW says
Sorry, but the U.S. is a dysfunctional country and primitive compared to really developed countries. All the info is in the possession of government and with to-days technology should be used to provide to all people, allowed to vote, automatically.
We just are not a true democracy as demonstrated in our miserable ranking of 57 in the world (RSF).
Another factor is the United States’ lawyerly society, blocking everything it can, good and bad.
Voter says
Vote by mail and you can even drop off your ballot at the Election Office. Don’t let the Republican party scare you away from your right to vote. What their afraid of is you’re going to vote against them. So now they are trying to make it harder and harder to vote don’t let them win.
Skibum says
Thank you! Our household ALWAYS stays current on the mail-in ballot list, we fill out our ballots at home, sign our signatures on the envelope when we are done, but then I drive to the Flagler Co. elections office with the completed ballots and always drop them off in person. The counter person checks our signatures against the verification signature on their computer and accepts our election ballots so we know for certain our votes will be counted.
Easier than making a pie! This is the way to do it for every single election. No rushing around on election day, no standing in any lines, no hassle. If YOU aren’t doing this, you are missing out!
Mr. Bill says
We do the same thing, and it works great. We don’t go down and deliver our ballot.
For your information, this is from the Mail Ballot FAQ, Flagler County Supervisor of Elections.
“Each one of the thousands of mail ballot envelope signatures are reviewed by trained Elections Office staff, a process which takes many hours. In the 2024 General Election, we reviewed every single one of the 22,618 signatures. If there is a difference, the ballot is escalated for review by two other staff members. A voter whose ballot signature is missing or does not match is contacted by mail, phone and/or email immediately and instructed to complete an affidavit. They must provide photo ID to “cure” the signature difference.”
So if they kick our ballots out, we have to be contacted.
I agree with you…much easier!
Skibum says
Thank you… I agree with you, although in the past the idiot trumper appointee that headed the U.S. Postal Service publicly stated that the USPS did NOT prioritize election ballots when they were in transit near an election date deadline. There is also the possibility of ballots getting lost in the mail. In some jurisdictions they have found non-delivered election ballots sitting in a postal facility AFTER an election.
Voting is one of the most important responsibilities we have as citizens, so I don’t take a chance that the post office will do the right thing with our election ballots and get them to where they need to go by the election deadline. That’s just me.
Sherry says
I’ll just remind everyone that trump is hell bent on getting rid of mail in voting!
Skibum says
Sherry, I think it even goes beyond just mail-in voting. In past public speeches he made in front of religious groups while trying to get the votes of “Christians”, he has said that if they voted to put him back in the WH they “would never have to vote again”.
Gee, I wonder what exactly he meant by that?