- The Florida House passed House Bill 991 requiring mandatory citizenship verification for all registered voters and applicants.
- Unverified voters will be relegated to provisional ballots that remain uncounted until citizenship is officially confirmed.
- The legislation narrows acceptable identification by removing student, retirement, and public assistance IDs from poll requirements.
(FLORIDA) — The Florida House of Representatives passed Florida House Bill 991 on February 25, 2026, approving a sweeping elections measure that requires citizenship verification for voter registration and voting.
Lawmakers backed the bill, titled “Election Integrity,” by a vote of 83-31 along largely party lines, with the House floor vote recorded at 5:32 PM (YEAS 83, NAYS 31).
State Representative Jenna Persons-Mulicka, a Republican who represents District 78 in Lee County, sponsored the measure with co-introducers Representative Trabulsy, Representative Chaney, and Representative Holcomb, pushing it as an election integrity step aimed at ensuring that only U.S. citizens register and cast ballots.
Florida House Bill 991 would make applicants swear or affirm U.S. citizenship as part of voter registration, while requiring applications to elicit documentation consistent with U.S. Election Assistance Commission requirements or federal law. Applicants also must review registration instructions and understand penalties for false information.
A central feature ties the new checks to the state’s driver’s license and identification records. The proposal requires officials to verify citizenship status through the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, using DHSMV records as the state’s database for confirming citizenship.
If those records do not verify citizenship, the bill creates an “unverified voter” status that changes how someone can cast a ballot. Under the proposal, unverified voters must use provisional ballots, and those ballots are not counted without verification.
Online registration would also feed into the verification process. The bill requires online voter registration systems to transmit data to election supervisors, who would verify status and issue notices as part of that review, with the proposal barring unverified voters from voting unless proven.
The measure also narrows what identification voters can present at the polls. It eliminates debit/credit cards, student IDs, retirement center IDs, neighborhood association IDs, and public assistance IDs from the list of acceptable poll IDs.
Beyond voter ID and registration changes, the bill sets out broader administrative shifts. It establishes data sharing among state agencies to recheck voter rolls, and it requires most voting on paper ballots.
Existing voters would not be exempt from new verification steps. The bill requires verification of citizenship for voters if it is not already confirmed through the DHSMV database, extending the citizenship verification concept beyond new applicants.
The list of acceptable proof of citizenship spelled out in the bill includes a current U.S. passport, a U.S. birth certificate, a consular report of birth abroad, a Florida driver’s license or Florida ID indicating citizenship, a naturalization certificate, a federal/state photo ID showing citizenship, or a federal court order granting citizenship.
The bill’s reliance on documentation becomes consequential when motor vehicle records do not confirm citizenship, because the proposal links that lack of verification to the “unverified voter” status and to the use of provisional ballots that remain uncounted without verification.
After clearing the House, the legislation moved to the Florida Senate on February 25, 2026, listed as “In Messages.” A companion, Senate Bill 1334, is sponsored by State Senator Erin Grall, a Republican who represents District 29, and it awaits action in the Appropriations Committee.
If the Senate approves the legislation and the governor signs it, the bill would take effect January 1, 2027. The Senate bill includes a fiscal estimate of $172,000 for citizenship markers on Real IDs for new citizens, while others would get markers at renewal.
Persons-Mulicka framed the measure as “common sense” to protect elections and the Constitution, as Republicans supported the bill and Democrats opposed it. The push also comes as Florida already requires citizenship affirmation, with most driver’s licenses Real ID-compliant verifying citizenship.
Critics warned that the requirements could block eligible voters who do not have the necessary documents readily available. Michelle Kanter Cohen, policy director at Fair Elections Center, argued it risks disenfranchising citizens without documents, potentially affecting thousands in Florida’s 13 million voters.
The proposal in Florida mirrors national efforts described by supporters as citizenship safeguards for elections. The federal SAVE America Act passed by the U.S. House on February 11, 2026, requires documentary proof of citizenship and photo ID for federal elections, and it is now stalled in the Senate.
