TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s version of the Save America Act — requiring citizen verification to vote — is getting closer to becoming law this year. That’s despite critics and voting rights groups warning it’ll disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters.
Watch the full report from Forrest Saunders here:
As the midterms draw near, Florida senators spent hours Wednesday sparring over the state’s “election integrity” bill — HB 991.
State Sen. Erin Grill (R-Vero Beach) said, “I think that anything that we can do to establish greater trust and integrity in our systems, we should do it...”
Republicans want to tighten citizenship checks with a bunch of new rules. Democrats warn it’ll make it harder for some to vote.
State Senate Minority Leader Lori Berman said, “What we do know is that if this bill goes into effect, people will be disenfranchised.”
The latest version of the bill does a lot.
Starting next year, election officials have to use state and federal records to verify citizenship of new or renewing voters — sometimes costly documents like passports and birth certificates among them if status can’t be confirmed.
New state IDs like driver licenses will have to show citizenship status. And several forms of ID will no longer be allowed at polling places. That includes student IDs, and those for retirement communities.
Amy Keith with Common Cause Florida argued, “This bill will kick thousands of US citizens off of Florida's voter rolls and prevent 1000s more from being able to register to vote.”
Keith thinks the move is unconstitutional, adding, "It is not hyperbole to call this a modern day poll tax.”
Senate Democrats tried to changed the language with a slate of amendments, warning the young, old, and low income will suffer from the changes, but none of them were adopted.
State Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis (D-Orlando) said, “The right to vote should not depend on whether someone can afford to track down costly documents from decades ago.”
State Sen. Erin Grall (R-Vero Beach) said, “This is about the integrity of our elections and proving that you are a United States citizen in order to vote in them.”
The next step is voting.
Florida’s GOP majority expected to approve the bill in the Senate later this week, though nothing is guaranteed.
There’s a chance the House won’t like all the Senate’s changes, and it could bounce back and forth in the final days of session without reaching the governor's desk this year.
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