The Florida Senate on Thursday approved an elections bill that would require citizenship verification for voter registration, restrict some forms of voter identification at polling places and delay most of the changes until 2027, sending the measure back to the House for final action.
HB 991 passed the Senate by a 27-12 vote after senators adopted a delete-all amendment that replaced the House bill with the Senate’s version of the measure, adding proof-of-citizenship document requirements for voter registration, creating an “unverified voter” category, requiring provisional ballots for voters whose citizenship cannot be confirmed, revising online registration procedures and delaying most of the changes until Jan. 1, 2027.
The amendment also requires Florida driver licenses and state identification cards issued to U.S. citizens to carry a legal-status designation by July 1, 2027. The House previously passed the bill 83-31 on Feb. 25, and must now concur in the Senate changes before the measure can go to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The bill would require people registering to vote to swear or affirm that they reviewed the registration instructions, are U.S. citizens and understand the penalties for providing false information. It would also require an applicant’s citizenship status to be verified through records maintained by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. If citizenship cannot be confirmed, the applicant would be designated an “unverified voter.”
Under the proposal, those voters would be required to cast provisional ballots, which would not be counted unless their citizenship is verified. The bill also would require the state’s online voter registration system to transmit certain information to county supervisors of elections and, in some cases, generate a printable application instead of completing registration electronically. An application would not be valid unless legal status is verified.
The Senate-amended version also narrows the list of acceptable identification at the polls. News reports on the debate said the bill would remove student identification cards and retirement center IDs from the list of valid photo IDs, a change Democrats argued would disproportionately affect college students and older voters.
The amendment lists acceptable evidence of citizenship, including a certified U.S. birth certificate, a valid unexpired U.S. passport, a naturalization certificate and a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. The bill’s official summary lists an effective date of Jan. 1, 2027, if it becomes law.
