A Florida law will require new and renewed driver’s licenses to display an individual’s immigration status beginning in the year 2027.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the state’s SAVE Act this month focusing on fortifying election integrity in the Sunshine State. One of the highlights is streamlining verification by showing immigration status on every driver’s license and state ID card. These changes will go into effect beginning January 1, 2027, applying to all new and renewed licenses at that point. However, the state already requires an individual to prove their citizenship status when applying for a license.
Currently, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) requires an individual applying for the license to bring a form of primary identification — including a birth certificate, U.S. passport, certificate of naturalization, or certification of citizenship — as well as proof of Social Security — from the card itself to a paycheck — as well as proof of residential address.
Further, Florida already requires personal identification to vote.
Aside from the changes to licenses, this law largely stands as Florida’s version of the federal SAVE Act, opposed by leftists who claim it will make it more difficult for minorities to vote. Those on the right, however, have pointed out that its basic tenets — such as requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, mandating voter identification, and ending universal mail-in ballots with exceptions for specific cases — strengthens the integrity of U.S. elections.
Twice-failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, for example, has deemed these basic measures “voter suppression”:
These more restrictive policies all come together to make it harder for average people to be heard, if you’re a senior, if you’re rural, if you’re disabled, if you’re a student, if you’re a person of color, those are five populations that, when these bills and these rules and these executive orders come to fruition, shave enough points off of elections that Republican authoritarians can gain the outcome.
Thomas Kennedy, policy analyst with the Florida Immigrant Coalition, criticized Florida’s law specifically, deeming it a violation of privacy.
“First and foremost it’s an invasion of privacy,” Kennedy claimed, according to WINK. “Think about the day-to-day instances where you use an ID whether you go to a restaurant or a bar or the movies or any sort of administrative dealing.”
In addition to requiring verification of U.S. citizenship by “using REAL ID data for new and updated voter registrations,” Florida’s SAVE Act also requires the use of paper ballots and “enhances coordination between state and local agencies to identify potentially ineligible voters,” per the governor’s office.
“Safeguarding the electoral process to improve oversight and prevent unlawful influence has been a top priority for my administration since my first days in office, ” DeSantis said in a statement, later adding, “This legislation strengthens the security, transparency, and reliability of Florida’s election system. In Florida, we will always stand up for election integrity.”
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