Sunshine State lawmakers are sending an election integrity bill to Governor Ron DeSantis (R) to sign, while similar legislation is languishing in the U.S. Senate.

Florida’s Senate passed S.B. 1334 on Thursday, requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. The Florida House of Representatives passed its version of the bill, H.B. 991, last month. Florida Senator Erin Grall (R), who introduced S.B. 1334, substituted the entire text of H.B. 991 for her own bill, rendering the dual bills identical.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingolia (R) boasted that the legislation will “verify that the people who are voting in our elections are indeed actual U.S. citizens.” He compared the legislation to the federal-level SAVE America Act, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month but has been stalled in the U.S. Senate for weeks. “At the same time, when Florida is doing this, we are finding that Congress is having a very tough time trying to pass their version of the SAVE [America] Act. I will just tell you my opinion, that this is a very much-needed piece of legislation that Congress should be passing. It is a common-sense piece of legislation and should be simple stuff,” Ingolia said in a press conference last week. “If you want to vote in our elections, you should have a voter ID. If you want to vote in our elections, we should verify that you belong here in the country, and we should verify your citizenship. I think most people agree with that.”

“What’s amazing to me is that they are still having a tough time reconciling this and getting across the finish line on a very simple piece of legislation. It just befuddles me why Congress always has problems passing the same laws that Florida passes so effortlessly,” Ingolia continued. “Congress is becoming a place where good ideas go to die. There is zero reason — zero reason — why the Senate should not take this up and pass it into law,” he added.

The Florida official pointed to polling showing the SAVE America Act’s election integrity provisions are broadly popular among voters of all stripes. “Everyone wants this. There is no reason why they should not pass this. I do not understand. On an issue where 81% of all the voters are in favor of ID, why aren’t we passing? What are they waiting for? Ninety-one percent?” Ingolia asked. “It doesn’t make any sense. Very few times you have a piece of legislation that everyone agrees with — Republicans, Democrats, and Independents — yet we still find ourselves in this position where we can’t pass this simple piece of legislation.”

DeSantis, who is expected to sign the bill into law, also noted that the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate has yet to pass the SAVE America Act. “Although Florida has already enacted much of what the federal legislation contemplates, this will further fortify our state as the leader in election integrity,” he said in a social media post.

In the face of mounting calls for the passage of the SAVE America Act, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has agreed to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote. The planned procedural vote is expected to launch weeks of debate on the Senate floor in a bid by Republican senators to at least attempt to pass the bill while preserving the filibuster. Although Republicans hold a majority (53) of seats in the Senate, 60 votes are required to invoke cloture and end debate.

Matt Carpenter, director of FRC Action, explained the parallel situations to The Washington Stand this way: "Florida went from the doldrums of election administration during the hanging-chads days of Bush v. Gore in the early 2000s to being the model for election administration and integrity today by enacting widely popular and common-sense reforms, like ensuring only U.S. citizens can register to vote and strengthening voter ID requirements to cast a ballot," he explained. "Florida Republicans are able to get these election integrity reforms done because they hold a supermajority in the legislature and have a governor, like Ron DeSantis, who endorsed the legislation.”

The situation in D.C.," he pointed out, "is different, unfortunately. Despite the bill having the broad support of voters, the Republican majority in the House, and the president, the Republican-led Senate has the votes to bring the bill up for debate but does not have sufficient support for final passage. While Senate Democrats are unified in their opposition, Senate Republicans are divided on strategy. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the SAVE America Act is ‘Jim Crow 2.0,’ which is a ridiculous claim considering recent publicly available polling shows 76% of Black Americans support voter identification. Meanwhile," Carpenter highlighted, "some Senate Republicans have cast doubt on the bill’s chances, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis (R) even calling it a ‘waste of time.’ What’s clear to all is that the Republican-led Senate is not likely to change Senate rules to override the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold, and that the president and the House digging in in their support of the SAVE America Act is teeing up a heated stand-off eight months before the crucial 2026 midterms.”