Overview
- Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Florida SAVE Act on Wednesday in The Villages, and within hours a coalition led by the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida seeking to block it.
- The law requires people registering to vote to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, and it tightens ID rules by removing student and retirement community cards from the approved list.
- Most provisions start Jan. 1, 2027, with election officials checking citizenship against state DMV records and new or renewed driver’s licenses set to display citizenship status beginning in 2027.
- Under the verification process described by state officials, voters flagged without documents on file may be asked to prove citizenship within about a month or risk removal from the rolls.
- County supervisors warn of unanswered implementation needs, including new forms, database links, staff and funding, while the lawsuit argues the rules will wrongly flag citizens and burden older Black voters, naturalized citizens, students and low‑income residents; the measure mirrors a federal bill stalled in the Senate and follows similar moves in states like Mississippi, Utah and South Dakota.