A bill to impose heightened requirements for first-time voters, including mandating presentation of documents such as a U.S. passport or birth certificate — received its first hearing in this year’s legislative session, and was approved by a party-line vote in the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee on Wednesday.
Critics warned the bill would backfire and block voter registrations of eligible U.S. citizens.
The proposal (SB 1334) is sponsored by Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach. It would make a number of revisions to election laws, but by far the most contentious would require a voter to provide specific documents to prove he or she a U.S. citizen if records from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) indicate that they are not.
Grall says that only voters who lack a driver’s license that is REAL ID-compliant would have to prove their citizenship. (A 2005 federal law called the REAL ID Act requires standardized driver’s licenses and ID cards to be issued by all U.S. states). She later said that 99% of Floridians are already REAL ID-compliant.
Among the documents the bill would deem acceptable to prove citizenship are:
- An original or certified copy of a birth certificate;
- A valid unexpired passport;
- A naturalization certificate issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security;
- A Consular Report of Birth Abroad provided by the U.S. Department of State;
- A current and valid Florida driver license of Florida ID card — if that card indicates U.S. citizenship;
- A current and valid photo identification issued by the federal government or the state which indicates U.S. citizenship;
- An order from a federal court granting U.S. citizenship.
The bill is similar to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. That bill has passed in the GOP-controlled U.S. House but has been bitterly opposed by Democrats in the U.S. Senate.
DisenfranchisementSenator Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, questioned Grall about why an expired U.S. passport would not be sufficient to prove one’s U.S. citizenship (new U.S. passports are valid for 10 years).
Grall noted that someone could become a citizen of another country or give up their U.S. citizenship after their passport expired. “It’s not something that should be relied upon,” she said. “There’s an expiration [date] for a reason.”
According to a report by the liberal D.C-based Center for American Progress, more than 8 million Floridians lacked a U.S. passport in fiscal year 2024.
Voting rights advocates denounced the bill, saying the requirements to prove U.S. citizenship will end up preventing eligible U.S. citizens from voting.
“How many United States citizens in Florida are you willing to disenfranchise? And what percentage of otherwise eligible voters losing access to the ballot is acceptable to you?” asked Jonathan Webber of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“We believe this bill will remove thousands of eligible U.S. citizens from the voter rolls and prevent many others of being able to registering to vote by imposing unnecessary burdensome requirements,” said Brad Ashwell, Florida state director with All Voting is Local Action.
“It creates massive bureaucratic hurdles while requiring them to pay for official documents like passports, original birth certificates, proof of name change in order to exercise their fundamental right to vote. Many Floridians do not have these documents.”
Critics noted that Kansas implemented a similar bill in 2011 that ended up blocking the voter registrations of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens who were otherwise eligible to vote. That was 12% of everyone seeking to register in Kansas for the first time. Federal courts ultimately declared the law an unconstitutional burden on voting rights, and it hasn’t been enforced since 2018, according to the Associated Press.
A suggestionOne of the few public speakers to praise the legislation was Karen Jaroch of Heritage Action. She noted that nearly 80% of Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2020 that requires that only U.S. citizens who are at least 18 years old and are registered to vote can qualify to vote in a Florida election
“Yet we lack a comprehensive system to verify citizenship for new and existing voters,” she said. “A law without enforcement is merely a suggestion.”
Sen. Grall said that despite the criticism, her bill will make it easier for people to vote.
“In May of 2025, DHSMV announced that 99% of IDs carried by Floridians were REAL ID-compliant,” she said. “If you have a valid real ID and you are a citizen, you should not have to reprove it. That’s what this bill says.”
The DHSMV did send out such a statement last May to that effect.
The measure now has two more stops to go through in the Senate. Its House companion (HB 991) is sponsored by Reps. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, and Rep. Dana Trabulsy, R-Fort Pierce. A similar bill sponsored by Persons-Mulicka failed at the end of the 2025 legislative session.
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