On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a measure into law, widely seen as Florida’s version of the federal SAVE America Act, requiring voters to prove their citizenship to participate in future elections. Voting rights groups have already filed legal challenges, and a grassroots candidate for Florida agriculture commissioner says one provision of the law—which takes effect immediately—is intended to keep his name off the ballot.
Like the proposed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act—currently stalled in Congress—HB 991 requires documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration in Florida, effective Jan. 1, 2027. While both measures share the core requirement around proof of citizenship, they differ in other details. For example, the SAVE Act includes mail-in voting provisions not part of Florida law, and the bill just signed by DeSantis includes a provision that bars candidates from running for office if they have legally changed their name within 365 days of qualifying.
Though it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in Florida, and existing law requires voters to show photo ID at the polls, the new law means voters have to meet more strict identification requirements, including providing proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote by providing a passport, birth certificate, or REAL ID-compliant driver’s license.
In addition, new voter registration applications and updates to existing registrations will be checked against the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' records. All newly issued, replaced, or renewed driver’s licenses will also be required to include a person's citizenship status going forward.
Other tightened requirements of the law include that student IDs and retirement community IDs will no longer be accepted for in-person voting, and Supervisors of Elections must review and update voter rolls to ensure voters meet the new, stricter citizenship verification requirements.
“This bill protects and expands integrity in our voter registration process by requiring the verification of U.S. citizenship when you’re doing your voter registration,” DeSantis said during the signing ceremony in The Villages.
But a coalition of voting-rights advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that the law will disenfranchise voters and that the proof-of-citizenship requirement violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
“The law requires prospective voters to have 'evidence of citizenship' on file, such as a passport or birth certificate, to register to vote or remain on the voter rolls. Thousands of Floridians don’t have ready access to these documents,” reads a recent press release issued by the ACLU regarding one of the recently filed legal challenges.
The lawsuit, filed by the League of Women Voters of Florida, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Florida Rising, Common Cause, Hispanic Federation, and UnidosUS, seeks to block enforcement of the law before it goes into effect in 2027. Plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, and Advancement Project.
The plaintiffs argue that Florida’s additional documentation requirement will make it significantly harder for otherwise eligible voters—especially naturalized citizens, low-income voters, married women who’ve changed their name, voters of color, students, voters with disabilities, transgender people, and seniors—to register and participate in elections.
The coalition’s complaint also argues that the requirement violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by imposing unlawful burdens on the fundamental right to vote, including restrictive voter registration requirements. Unlike some other documentary proof-of-citizenship laws, HB 911’s provisions apply retroactively to current registered voters, making it even likelier that eligible voters will be both wrongly prevented from registering and/or erroneously removed from the rolls, says the group.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the law unlawful and block Florida officials from enforcing the documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement.
In addition to the ACLU‑led coalition, a separate federal lawsuit was filed by Elias Law Group on behalf of the Florida State Conference of Branches and Youth Units of the NAACP and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans. Like the ACLU‑led challenge, the suit argues that HB 991’s documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements and voter roll verification processes impose unconstitutional burdens on eligible voters, including those already registered.
“Governor DeSantis just signed one of the worst voter suppression laws in modern American history,” says Elias Law Group partner Abha Khanna. “The law’s own sponsors estimate that HB 991 would force over one million existing Florida voters, including lifelong Florida residents who have been voting in the state for decades, to present a valid passport or an original birth certificate or get kicked off the rolls within 30 days. The state’s own data shows that noncitizen voting is virtually nonexistent in Florida. If this law goes into effect, the number of eligible Florida citizens who will be disenfranchised will be far, far greater than the number of ineligible voters who will be prevented from casting a ballot. Courts across the country have rejected these kinds of laws, and this one should meet the same fate.”
Both federal cases seek to block the enforcement of HB 991 before it takes effect on Jan. 1.
While the proof of citizenship provisions are the top concern for numerous voting rights groups, HB 991’s provision concerning candidate legal name changes—a provision that became effective upon the governor’s signing—is of specific concern to the Republican grassroots candidate for Florida Agriculture Commissioner, “Matt The Welder.”
In a Facebook post he shared on the same day DeSantis signed the law, Matt the Welder wrote, “Today they signed the law to keep me off of YOUR ballot. The real fight begins now!”
The issue with HB 991 directly impacting Mr. Welder is that his name at birth was Matt Taylor; he recently (less than 365 days ago) legally changed it to “Matt the Welder.”
Welder ran for office in 2024 as an NPA candidate, seeking a seat on the Hillsborough County Commission—he appeared on the ballot as Matt Taylor. He lost that bid, and according to his attorney, believes the way his name appeared on the ballot was at least partially to blame.
Welder has used social media to effectively build his profile as a political influencer and candidate, posting content focused on themes like rooting out corruption in government, calling for campaign finance reform, advocating for environmental protection and land preservation, criticizing the use of chemical spraying in waterways, with his content frequently targeted at larger special-interest political contributors across the state, including large developers and the Mosaic Fertilizer Company, and the politicians who accept their donations.
His official Facebook account has more than 120,000 followers, and his Instagram account under the same name, “Matt the Welder,” has more than 460,000.
It’s this name, “Matt the Welder,” that Welder and his attorney argue that a majority of his supporters, and potential voters, know him by.
Speaking to Tampa Bay 10 on Wednesday, Welder’s attorney Mike Beltran said Welder’s birth name on the 2024 ballot created confusion among voters who knew him by his online persona.
In another earlier post made after the Florida Legislature approved HB 991, Matt the Welder told his followers, “Am I going to be on your ballot? Yes. It’s just going to cost me a lot more than it should have…because I have to spend my money on an attorney to make sure my name stays on the ballot.”
While the law bars candidates who have changed their legal name within 365 days of the qualifying deadline, it excludes name changes resulting from divorce, adoption, or marriage.
Beltran argues that the timing and application of the provision concerning legal name changes are unconstitutional and specifically harmful to his client, Matt the Welder. “It violates the 14th Amendment, violates the prohibition on bills of attainder, which are found both in the Florida and federal constitutions,” he said.
During the signing ceremony on Wednesday, DeSantis said that he anticipated lawsuits against the new law, characterizing the expected legal challenges as a "song and dance."
"And you know what happens on all these: I sign it, they sue us, right? They go to a liberal judge. The liberal judge sides with them. Then we appeal, and we win," DeSantis said.
In a recent press release by the ACLU, Jonathan Topaz, staff attorney with the organization’s Voting Rights Project, said, “Florida’s new ‘show your papers’ law is a blatant attempt to add unnecessary barriers to the ballot box…. all in service of perpetuating the fact-free myth of widespread non-citizen registration and voting.” Adding that the lawsuit was brought to “ensure that Florida cannot block its eligible voters from exercising their fundamental right to vote because of missing or mismatched paperwork.”
“Florida has a long and troubling history of suppressing the right to vote by placing barriers between voters and the ballot box,” said Carrie McNamara, staff attorney at the ACLU of Florida. “Over the past several years, state leaders have systematically rewritten the rules of democracy—from restricting the citizen-led amendment process, to undermining community-based voter registration efforts; from sending formerly incarcerated citizens back to jail because they dared to vote, to delaying special elections and leaving thousands without representation.
“This anti-voter law is the latest entry in that playbook. It reflects a continued effort to create new barriers between eligible voters and the ballot box, making it harder for people to have their voices heard. Protecting the freedom to vote is fundamental to our democracy, and we will fight to defend it.”
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lib224
Republicans can't win a free and fair election.
Friday, April 3 Report this
nellmcphillips
I have long been a Republican. But Florida republicans who support DeSantis and Trump and completely ignore the natural resources important to this state and their callous attitude to humanity have me greatly rethinking my party affiliation.
Friday, April 3 Report this