By James Nightengale
In a Florida House committee room in February, Florida A&M University (FAMU) junior Jalen Fields watched lawmakers pass a bill out of committee that, if it withstands legal challenges, will make voting harder for college students next year.
Among other restrictive provisions, House Bill 991, or Florida’s version of the federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, will remove student ID cards as an acceptable form of voter identification. The Florida Legislature passed the bill — which also requires voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship to cast a ballot — in March. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill in April, and it will take effect Jan. 1, 2027. Voting rights groups quickly challenged the law in court, saying it would disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters.
Fields is one of a number of students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the state who are already preparing for the effects the law will have on them.
“It’s almost like a helpless feeling, but one that’s rooted in the fact we still have work to do, and we’re not going to let it stop us,” she said.
Fields and other Florida college students say the new law will create more barriers to the polls for young voters. They are working to educate students now about how voting will change for them next year.
After the committee hearing in February, Fields returned to campus and immediately began coordinating with Campus Vote Project (CVP), where she is a fellow, to prepare voter education resources about the upcoming voter ID changes. CVP is a project of the Fair Elections Center, a partner organization in the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition, which is a grantee of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Vote Your Voice program.
Launched in 2020, Vote Your Voice — in partnership with the Tides Foundation — supports increased voter registration, participation and civic engagement among communities of color in the SPLC’s focus states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Vote Your Voice is aligned with the SPLC’s We Decide / Decidimos campaign, which is designed to mobilize and unite voters of color across the South and help them create the change they wish to see in their communities and the world.
‘Time to plan and educate people’
Matletha Bennette, a senior staff attorney with the SPLC’s Voting Rights litigation team, said voter restrictions target college students because young people generally lean more progressive, especially at HBCUs.
“The message is, ‘We’re not going to listen to you,’” Bennette said. “We don’t want to hear your opinions.”
FAMU junior and CVP fellow Mya Mims is incorporating information about the new Florida law into her voter education efforts ahead of the midterm elections to make sure students know they can still use their student IDs to vote this year.
“My biggest concern is that [the new law] might discourage people from participating and cause a shift in our democracy,” she said. “So, we’re using this time to plan and educate people.”
Jonathan Webber, Florida policy director for the SPLC, said removing student IDs as voter identification deliberately targets young people under the guise of “election security.”
“Florida already has safe and secure elections,” Webber said. “There has never in modern history been a reported case of people who are not supposed to vote voting in any kind of numbers that would impact the results of an election. The idea that elections aren’t secure or safe is misinformation to confuse voters and make people think that they should be scared when they don’t have to be.”
Bennette said she does not see any substantial differences between student IDs and other forms of voter ID that remain acceptable.
“For the purposes of verifying identity when you go to vote, I do not see a difference between student identification and the other forms of IDs that will continue to be allowed, such as driver’s licenses,” she said.
Bennette said the potential effects of the law on students are especially concerning because young people already face numerous barriers to casting their ballots. These barriers include difficulty getting state-issued IDs in schools outside their home states, transportation to polling places in areas far from their campuses and additional requirements in some states that make it harder for absentee voters, according to the League of Women Voters.
“These laws are telling them not to vote and don’t try,” Bennette said.
Fields said she views the new student voter ID restrictions as part of a broader history of voting policies that have made voting more difficult for young people, communities of color and others.
“Voters like me, the youth and other vulnerable populations, our votes are not counted the same,” she said. “That’s a historical and purposeful practice. We’re fighting the same fight all over again.”
Mims said HB 991 has prompted her to reflect on how voting rights have evolved over time and how changes in voting laws continue to shape young people’s access to the ballot.
“I don’t want history to repeat itself or go backwards,” she said.
‘We’re very resilient’
Edward Waters University junior Cassie Creed said she believes conservative-led efforts to restrict voting access for young people and Black and Brown voters, including voter ID changes and mid-decade redistricting that targeted areas where Black people live, are designed to sow fear and confusion.
“Voter suppression is so strong,” said Creed, who is also a CVP fellow. “They want to create fear because that’s what they run on.”
Creed said she believes that if more lawmakers engaged with young people in meaningful, authentic ways — like hosting more events on campuses outside of election cycles — they might better understand student perspectives on the harm of bills like HB 991.
“There’s a hype when it comes to, ‘Vote for me,’ but then I never see you any other time of the year,” she said.
Creed said students speaking up and pushing back against attempts to restrict their ability to vote sends a clear message to lawmakers.
“We’re very strong, and we’re very resilient,” she said.
