In Florida, a bloc of New American Voters — recently naturalized citizens that have earned the right to vote — has the potential to play an outsized role in the outcomes of critical federal and state races.

This voting bloc is multiracial, multigenerational, geographically diverse, and majority female. New American Voters hold distinct ideologies, experiences, and viewpoints, and will be motivated by a variety of issues this November.

With a competitive Senate election (rated “lean R” by the Cook Political Report) and a gubernatorial election that will capture the national political spotlight, Florida will be one of the most critical states during the November 2022 midterm elections and New American Voters can sway the outcome.

Florida ranks 5th in the nation according to the New American Voters Impact Model, which was created by the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) and the U.S. Immigration Policy Center (USIPC) at the University of California, San Diego to showcase the potential of this critical voting bloc to influence the outcome of midterm elections in 50 states.

This report offers data that illustrates how New American Voters can have an outsized impact.

Florida’s cohort is part of an estimated 5.19 million newly naturalized citizens across the U.S., according
to New American Voters 2022: Harnessing the Power of Naturalized Citizens, a report released by
NPNA, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), APIAVote, and the USIPC at the University of California San Diego. The power of this potential voting bloc is determined by individuals’ ability to both register and vote this November.

This electoral season presents many challenges, including the need for organizations to adapt their voter
engagement work to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, language access issues, and ongoing efforts to restrict access to voting, particularly targeting voters of color. One form of voter suppression that has emerged in recent years is the increasing backlog and processing delays of citizenship applications.

According to the latest data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), there are over 700,000 pending citizenship applications nationwide, with 76,584 applications backlogged in USCIS’ offices in Florida.

While the national average processing delay is around 11 months, it is nearly 16 months in USCIS’ Orlando office, 15 months in USCIS’ Miami office, nearly 14 months in USCIS’ Oakland Park office, nearly 14 months in USCIS’ West Palm Beach office, 13 months in USCIS’ Fort Myers office, and nearly 13 months in USCIS’ Kendall office.

This means that immigrants who are eligible for citizenship and who would have otherwise naturalized and have had time to register to vote in this year’s elections may not be able to do so given the naturalization application backlog.

Florida-based organizations, including the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), the Miami-Dade County Office of New Americans, and Mi Familia Vota Florida are partnering with NPNA’s New American Voters Campaign, a non-partisan nationwide effort to address naturalization barriers and encourage newly naturalized citizens to register and vote.