The Republican governors of Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Utah have all recently signed their states’ own versions of the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require voters to provide proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote in all 50 states that Trump has made his top legislative priority. In several other states, measures to add additional language into their constitutions explicitly prohibiting non-citizens from voting are on the ballot in the November midterms. And in still more, efforts to get amendments of that kind on the ballot are underway and state legislators are weighing bills to introduce proof of citizenship requirements or otherwise restrict voting access.
Trump and Republican lawmakers have claimed that such measures are critical to counter widespread voter fraud and ensure election security. But research shows that non-citizen voting and fraud are already extremely rare in U.S. elections. And mandating that Americans provide proof of citizenship in order to register or vote could present a challenging hurdle for many citizens: The Brennan Center for Justice found in a 2023 survey that more than 21 million citizens of voting age, or about 9 percent, don’t have ready access to such documents.
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Wednesday that will impose stricter voter ID requirements and requires Floridians to show proof of citizenship to register.
The new law will also require that the citizenship of every already-registered voter be verified by checking Florida voter rolls against federal and state records. Voters who are flagged as potential non-citizens will then be notified and have to provide proof of citizenship in order to remain registered.
The measure was quickly challenged by a coalition of voting rights organizations, who filed a lawsuit after DeSantis signed the bill seeking to block it from going into effect. The groups argue the new rules will make it “harder for eligible U.S. citizens to vote—and for some, impossible,” and that they violate both the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
The law also requires the state to conduct annual audits of its voter rolls.
The bill will take effect on July 1.
“In South Dakota, we do things right, especially when running our state elections,” said Rhoden in a statement after signing the law, called the South Dakota SAVE Act. “This bill ensures only citizens vote in state elections, keeping our elections safe and secure.”
The law will only impact new registrants. South Dakotans already registered or looking to change their registration information will not be required to show proof of citizenship.
The law takes effect on May 6, before the state’s June 23 primary.
Utah’s state election office stated earlier this year that after months of reviewing its voter rolls, the state had not confirmed any instances of non-citizens voting.
On the ballot in November: Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota (again), and West Virginia
In Arkansas, an amendment to the state constitution would specify that "only a citizen of the United States meeting the qualifications of an elector" can vote in elections in the state and that "a person who does not meet the qualifications of an elector under this section shall not be permitted to vote in any state or local election held in this state."
In Kansas, an amendment would change the state constitution to hold that “no person shall be deemed a qualified elector” unless they are a U.S. citizen, are at least 18 years old, and live in the area where they’re seeking to vote.
An amendment on the West Virginia ballot would slightly tweak the wording of the state’s constitution from saying that "citizens of the state shall be entitled to vote" to "only citizens of the state who are citizens of the United States are entitled to vote."
The South Dakota constitution currently says that “every United States citizen eighteen years of age or older who has met all residency and registration requirements shall be entitled to vote in all elections and upon all questions submitted to the voters of the state unless disqualified by law for mental incompetence or the conviction of a felony.”
The ballot initiative would amend an existing voter qualification law in Alaska that states that "a person may vote at any election who is a citizen of the United States” to read "only a person who is a citizen of the United States … may vote at any election."
Americans for Citizen Voting, the organization leading the push for the ballot initiative, said it had collected well over the number of signatures required to put the proposed constitutional amendment before voters, but the Michigan Bureau of Elections has yet to verify the signatures.
In Arizona, a measure has been proposed that would amend the state constitution to include language stating that “only citizens of the United States shall be eligible to register and vote once for each available office or ballot measure, in any primary, general or municipal election in Arizona” and to require voters to provide “acceptable” government-issued identification to cast a ballot, among other things. Both chambers of the state legislature have voted to refer the measure to be added to the November ballot, but is not yet officially on it.
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