Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Wednesday aimed at safeguarding the state’s elections, including a measure that requires verification of U.S. citizenship for voter registration.

Known as the Florida SAVE Act, House Bill 991 outlines steps to improve oversight, prevent unlawful or foreign influence, and expand penalties on election-related violations. The law was immediately met with a lawsuit alleging voter suppression.

“In Florida, we will always stand up for election integrity and hold accountable the bad actors who would subvert our electoral processes,” the governor wrote in a post on X.

The state’s voter rolls are now mandated to be updated annually and ineligible voters removed. Absentee ballot requests must be made with a valid voter ID. And ballot harvesting is banned across the state, DeSantis said as he listed the election protections in the bill.

Penalties were enhanced on election-related crimes including voter fraud, voting by illegal immigrants, voting by individuals in multiple jurisdictions, and convicted felons casting ballots.

“What I’ve found is if people know there’s going to be accountability, then doing any shenanigans—it’s just not worth it,” DeSantis said at the signing ceremony in Ocala, Florida. “Why would you do it and end up with a significant penalty? You do it because you know you can get away with it.”

The Florida SAVE Act also increases transparency requirements for candidates.

Under the legislation, all candidates for public office in the state are required to disclose if they have dual citizenship, and congressional candidates must disclose stock trading activity.

The law is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

“All you have to do is watch these elections and see how Florida performs, and we’ve become the envy of the nation,” DeSantis said. “In California, they count [ballots] for months, or weeks, at least weeks. ... That totally destroys confidence in the system.”

The Florida State Conference of Branches and Youth Units of the NAACP and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans filed a lawsuit only hours after DeSantis put his signature on the bill. The groups allege the law’s proof-of-citizenship requirements are unconstitutional and could suppress eligible voters from participating in elections.

The enactment of the Florida SAVE Act comes as Congress has stalled in trying to pass its own SAVE America Act. The federal bill has similar measures to the Sunshine State law, including requiring photo ID to cast a ballot, providing proof of U.S. citizenship for new voter registration, and requiring states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.

Senate Democrats are unified in opposition to the SAVE America Act, and are relying on the filibuster to extend debate indefinitely and effectively require 60 votes to take the legislation to a final vote. Republicans hold 53 seats, making that 60-vote threshold unreachable.

Last week, senators went on a two-week recess, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has suggested the SAVE America Act could be taken up after the break is over.

With the legislation stalled in Congress, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to establish a list of individuals eligible to vote by mail.

“The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary. It’s horrible what has been going on,” Trump said. “If you don’t have honest voting, you can’t have, really, a nation.”

The eligible voter list is to be verified by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. Furthermore, the executive order directs the U.S. Postal Service to send ballots only to individuals on the list and to place a unique barcode on each envelope for tracking purposes.

While signing the executive order, Trump administration officials renewed calls for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act.

“The fundamentals of our democracy are built on voter integrity,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.