MIAMI, FL — Voting rights advocates filed a federal lawsuit challenging Florida House Bill 991, a new law requiring documentary proof of citizenship, warning that the measure will disenfranchise eligible voters and create unnecessary barriers to the freedom to vote. The law requires prospective voters to have “evidence of citizenship” on file, such as a passport or birth certificate to register to vote or remain on the voter rolls. Thousands of Floridians don’t have ready access to these documents.
The lawsuit, filed by the League of Women Voters of Florida, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Florida Rising, Common Cause, Hispanic Federation and UnidosUS seeks to block enforcement of the law before it goes into effect in 2027. Plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, and Advancement Project.
Plaintiffs argue that Florida’s additional documentation requirement will make it significantly harder for eligible voters — especially naturalized citizens, low-income voters, married women who’ve changed their name, voters of color, students, voters with disabilities, transgender people, and seniors — to register and participate in elections.
The complaint argues that the requirement violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution by imposing unlawful burdens on the fundamental right to vote, including restrictive voter registration requirements. Unlike some other documentary proof-of-citizenship laws, this one applies retroactively to currently registered voters, making it even likelier that eligible voters will be both wrongly prevented from registering and/or erroneously removed from the rolls.
Courts have repeatedly found that documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements disenfranchise eligible voters while doing little to address the virtually nonexistent problem of non-citizen voting. In 2016, Kansas enacted a similar law, which blocked more than 35,000 Kansans from registering to vote. It was struck down in 2018 for violating the National Voter Registration Act and the US Constitution.
Plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the law unlawful and block Florida officials from enforcing the documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement.
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