TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — President Donald Trump has been calling for strict citizenship voting requirements, and Florida Republicans are pushing to get it done at the state level.
Florida Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, a Democrat, said she is worried that the state’s version of the legislation may hinder impoverished voters.
“The right to vote should not depend on whether someone can afford to track down costly documents from decades ago,” Davis said during the floor debate on Wednesday in Tallahassee.
Florida Sen. Erin Grall, who filed Florida Senate Bill 1334 on Jan. 7, said the legislation is meant to protect U.S. citizens’ right to vote.
Republican lawmakers moved it forward to a third reading on the Senate floor before a final vote just months before the midterm elections.
In the House, lawmakers included provisions from SB 1334 in the related Florida House Bill 991, filed by Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka on Jan. 5.
Both bills list a certified birth certificate, a valid U.S. passport, and a certificate of naturalization as documents that will be acceptable as evidence of U.S. citizenship.
Grall, a Republican, said the bill had two key components.
“The first is updating statutory provisions related to citizenship and voting to better work with the systems and tools available to government officials to verify citizenship, like Real ID and the SAVE Database when legal status is uncertain,” Grall said. “The second is an updating of terms and definitions to clarify that the primary method of voting in Florida is by pen and paper.”
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