The Florida Democratic Party Sounds Alarm on Attacks on the Freedom to Vote Moving through the Legislature

Republican lawmakers are advancing legislation that would make it harder for eligible U.S. citizens to vote instead of addressing the state’s growing affordability crisis. Florida House Bill 991 and Senate Bill 1334 could force every voter in the state to re-verify their citizenship just to stay registered, throwing millions of lawful voters into an error-prone system, and putting them at risk of being wrongly purged if paperwork can’t be immediately obtained and verified.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried issued the following statement:

“These bills would set up costly new barriers for United States citizens just to exercise their right to vote, during an affordability crisis when Floridians are already working hard just to keep up with their bills. If your name changed because you got married? More paperwork. If you don’t have the right documents handy or can’t afford to obtain them? You could be kicked off the rolls.

Non-citizen voting is already illegal in Florida, and carries severe penalties. The people hurt most by this legislation will be seniors, students, married women, working families, and naturalized citizens – not because they did anything wrong, but because Republicans are scared of the will of the voters. This isn’t about protecting elections, it’s about controlling the outcome.”

These bills do not address a real problem. Instead, they create new barriers for U.S. citizen voters and risk silencing thousands of eligible voices. Lawmakers must reject HB 991 and SB 1334 and focus on fixing the affordability crisis plaguing our state.