Florida’s proof-of-citizenship voting restriction hit with third pro-voting lawsuit

By Jacob Knutson

A poll worker directs a voter to a polling station in October 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A poll worker directs a voter to a polling station in October 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Two groups representing minority voters in Florida filed a new lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block a pending law that would require voters in the state to prove their citizenship or else lose their right to register to vote and cast a ballot.

The lawsuit alleges that the restrictive proof-of-citizenship requirement, which Florida Republicans modeled after President Donald Trump’s now-stalled SAVE America Act, would “create an unjustifiably high risk of erroneous disenfranchisement” if it goes into effect in January 2027.

“Federal law does not permit Florida to subject eligible voters to those risks,” the suit states.

Wednesday’s complaint, which was filed against Secretary of State Cord Byrd (R) and several county-level election administrators, marks the third lawsuit brought against the Florida SAVE Act since Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law in April. 

The pro-voting groups Black Voters Matter Fund and the League of United Latin American Citizens asked a federal court to declare the law, which state Republicans dubbed the “Florida SAVE Act,” a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the National Voter Registration Act.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit legal advocacy organization targeted by the Trump administration earlier this year, and the Democracy Defenders Fund are representing the voting groups in the suit.

“Florida lawmakers are reviving a bill that couldn’t survive Congress and dressing it up as state law,” Matletha Bennette, a senior staff attorney for SPLC, said in a statement Wednesday.

“This purposely manufactures a crisis for people who have done nothing wrong, and it does so on the backs of naturalized citizens, Black families and working Floridians. The right to vote must be defended against every ‘show me your papers’ bill,” Bennette added.

The Florida chapter of the NAACP and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans brought a separate suit* earlier this year, as did a coalition of pro-voting groups led by UnidosUS.

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) is representing the Florida State Conference of Branches Youth Units of the NAACP and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans in the case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.