WASHINGTON, D.C. – Elias Law Group today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Florida NAACP and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans challenging House Bill 991, a new voter suppression law that requires Florida voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote or remain on the voter rolls. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law this morning, calling it Florida’s version of the SAVE Act.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, alleges that HB 991 violates Florida voters’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by imposing an undue burden on the right to vote and by treating voters differently based on which registration form they use. The law takes effect on January 1, 2027, after the midterm elections.
Under HB 991, both new registrants and existing voters who update their registrations must have their citizenship verified. If the state does not already have affirmative evidence of a voter’s citizenship, the voter must produce documentary proof, such as a birth certificate or passport, or face disenfranchisement. The law also requires state officials to conduct a sweeping review of all 13.3 million registered voters and initiate removal proceedings against any voter deemed “potentially ineligible” unless they provide documentary proof of citizenship within 30 days.
This law threatens the voting rights of a wide range of Floridians, including Black voters, seniors, low-income voters, newly naturalized citizens, young voters, and married women who have changed their names. In Kansas, a similar law passed in 2011 prevented 31,000 eligible voters from registering before it was struck down.
“Governor DeSantis just signed one of the worst voter suppression laws in modern American history,” said Elias Law Group partner Abha Khanna. “The law’s own sponsors estimate that HB 991 would force over one million existing Florida voters, including lifelong Florida residents who have been voting in the state for decades, to present a valid passport or an original birth certificate or get kicked off the rolls within 30 days. The state’s own data shows that noncitizen voting is virtually nonexistent in Florida. If this law goes into effect, the number of eligible Florida citizens who will be disenfranchised will be far, far greater than the number of ineligible voters who will be prevented from casting a ballot. Courts across the country have rejected these kinds of laws, and this one should meet the same fate.”
“For more than a century, the Florida NAACP has fought to ensure that every eligible Floridian can make their voice heard at the ballot box,” said Pamela Burch Fort of the NAACP Florida State Conference. “House Bill 991 threatens to roll back that progress by imposing burdensome new requirements that will fall hardest on Black voters, seniors, and low-income Floridians. These voters have done absolutely nothing wrong to justify this new burden on their right to vote. While this law would not take effect until 2027, the Florida NAACP is proud to step up and bring this lawsuit now to make sure that we have plenty of time to challenge this harmful voter suppression law before the 2028 elections. In the meantime, we urge every Floridian to continue to make their voice heard at the ballot box while we work tirelessly to protect your right to do so.”
Florida’s own Office of Election Crimes and Security found just 198 potential noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls out of more than 13.3 million registered voters, some of whom appear to have never actually voted in any election. Shortly before HB 991 passed, Secretary of State Cord Byrd himself boasted that Florida had “the cleanest voter rolls possible.”
Click HERE to read the full complaint.
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