THE VILLAGES, Fla. \u2013 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 991 \u2014 the state\u2019s version of the federal SAVE Act on Wednesday at The Villages, expanding on years of election integrity reforms and positioning Florida as a national model at a moment when birthright citizenship is being debated at the highest levels of the U.S. government.<\/p>\n
DeSantis opened by tracing Florida\u2019s complicated election history back to the 2000 presidential recount, when the state became synonymous with electoral chaos. <\/p>\n
He said the 2018 midterms exposed new vulnerabilities, recalling how he won on election night only to watch his margin shrink days later as additional votes arrived from Broward and Palm Beach counties.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have a landslide, you can still have irregularities \u2014 people just don\u2019t fixate on it as much,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cThis was razor thin.\u201d<\/p>\n
By 2022, DeSantis said Florida had turned the page \u2014 tabulating results for the entire state within hours of polls closing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll you have to do is watch these elections and see how Florida performs,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cWe\u2019ve become the envy of the nation. Who would have thought that 25 years ago?\u201d<\/p>\n
HB 991 builds on that foundation. DeSantis said the bill requires verification of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote, mandates paper ballots for all voting to allow for verifiable recounts, prohibits student IDs as valid voter identification in favor of government-issued IDs proving Florida residency, strengthens penalties for election crimes \u2014 particularly petition fraud.<\/p>\n
The bill requires candidates to disclose any dual citizenship and attest under oath that they meet all constitutional requirements for office.<\/p>\n
The bill also requires new and returning congressional candidates to disclose stock trading activity while serving in office.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur constitution in the State of Florida says only American citizens are allowed to vote in our elections, and so we need to make sure the law reflects that,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n
DeSantis noted that Florida\u2019s existing laws already put the state in near-full compliance with what the federal SAVE Act would require nationwide. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Save America Act federally were to be enacted, 99.7 percent of Florida voters have already complied with what that law requires,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He was pointed in his criticism of how other states run their elections, singling out California, Pennsylvania and Arizona by name. DeSantis said California sends ballots to all registered voters indiscriminately, regardless of whether they are requested.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re like renting an apartment, and they\u2019ll send you a ballot \u2014 and then they\u2019ll send ballots for the three or four people that rented the apartment before you did,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cThat is totally unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also criticized Pennsylvania for accepting ballots after Election Day with no postmark and said states like Arizona take weeks to produce results. In Florida, DeSantis said more than 10 million votes in the 2024 presidential election were counted and reported the same night.<\/p>\n
Stock trading disclosure<\/p>\n
One of the bill\u2019s notable provisions targets congressional stock trading. DeSantis was clear about the limits of what Florida can enforce \u2014 but said transparency is a meaningful start.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know they\u2019re trying to ban that practice,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the authority to ban because they\u2019re federal officials, but we do have the authority to require disclosure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the bill, candidates for Congress must declare whether they intend to trade stocks while serving. If they commit to not trading and then do, they must disclose that activity when they next seek re-election. <\/p>\n
RELATED: DeSantis supports push to ban congressional insider trading, says some members are like \u2018Warren Buffett on steroids\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n DeSantis, a former three-term U.S. congressman, said he voluntarily chose not to trade a single stock during his entire time in office.<\/p>\n Birthright citizenship \u2014 and Trump at the Supreme Court<\/p>\n As DeSantis spoke, President Donald Trump was attending oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court from the gallery, where justices were hearing arguments over the scope of the 14th Amendment and birthright citizenship. <\/p>\n