{"id":7749,"date":"2025-06-23T10:35:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T15:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=84955"},"modified":"2025-06-23T10:35:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T15:35:51","slug":"the-save-database-was-already-a-headache-for-states-now-its-fueling-trumps-voter-fraud-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2025\/06\/23\/the-save-database-was-already-a-headache-for-states-now-its-fueling-trumps-voter-fraud-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"The SAVE database was already a headache for states. Now it\u2019s fueling Trump\u2019s voter fraud allegations."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><head> <meta charset=\"UTF-8\"> <meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width, initial-scale=1\"> <meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-image-preview:large, max-snippet:-1, max-video-preview:-1\"> <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.5 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ --> <title>The SAVE database was already a headache for states. Now it\u2019s fueling Trump\u2019s voter fraud allegations. | CyberScoop<\/title> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Trump administration is expanding the SAVE database to verify voter citizenship, sparking debate over disenfranchising eligible voters despite evidence that noncitizen voting is extremely rare.\"> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/voter-citizenship-verification-trump-save-database\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SAVE database was already a headache for states. Now it\u2019s fueling Trump\u2019s voter fraud allegations.\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Trump administration is expanding the SAVE database to verify voter citizenship, sparking debate over disenfranchising eligible voters despite evidence that noncitizen voting is extremely rare.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/voter-citizenship-verification-trump-save-database\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cyberscoop\/\"> <meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-23T15:35:51+00:00\"> <meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-23T15:35:54+00:00\"> <meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/the-save-database-was-already-a-headache-for-states-now-its-fueling-trumps-voter-fraud-allegations-1.jpg\"> <meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"5022\"> <meta 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class=\"stickybar__info js-sticky-bar-content\" readability=\"32\">\n<p>Voting is open for the 2025 CyberScoop 50 awards!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a class=\"stickybar__link button button-tertiary\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/cyberscoop50\/\">Click here!<\/a> <\/div>\n<p> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"23.294797687861\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/voter-citizenship-verification-trump-save-database\/\"> <span>Election Security<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <!-- Listen to this article section --> <!-- End of audio player --> <\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"409\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/the-save-database-was-already-a-headache-for-states-now-its-fueling-trumps-voter-fraud-allegations.jpg?resize=640%2C409&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/the-save-database-was-already-a-headache-for-states-now-its-fueling-trumps-voter-fraud-allegations-1.jpg 5022w, 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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"190.50928605251\"><body readability=\"382.57055019612\"><\/p>\n<p>Just under three weeks after being elected to his first term as president of the United States, Donald Trump took to Twitter to claim he\u2019d been cheated.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While he had won the office through his strength in the electoral college, Trump wanted to make something clear: he also believed <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/realdonaldtrump\/status\/802972944532209664?lang=en\">he\u2019d won the popular vote<\/a> \u201cif you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This rhetoric \u2014 that dark forces were conspiring to rig democratic outcomes against him \u2014 has endured through Trump\u2019s two subsequent presidential campaigns, bolstered by persistent belief among Republicans that election fraud is rampant. Trump\u2019s attacks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/04\/12\/1244302080\/trump-johnson-noncitizen-voting-bill\">eventually sharpened<\/a> into the more specific charge that illegal immigrants were casting millions of fraudulent ballots for his Democratic opponents across the country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But over the past decade, these political attacks have always crashed headlong into an uncomfortable reality: the facts are not in his favor. All the data we have tells us that non-citizen voting is rare. So rare that exhaustive post-election audits by Republican state officials sympathetic to Trump\u2019s cause have only found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohiosos.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/2025\/2025-03-17\/\">handfuls of noncitizens<\/a> even registered out of millions of registered voters. The vast majority of identified registered noncitizens never cast an actual ballot.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the past, these inconvenient stats and metrics have prevented Trump and Republicans from winning court battles that seek to invalidate or cast suspicion on batches of voters for supposedly not having proven citizenship.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now, with the executive branch once again under his control, some election officials and experts worry that Trump is attempting to create a new set of metrics that can better support his political claims of voter fraud.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Effective tool or \u2018poor fit\u2019 for verifying voters?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Last month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services quietly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/newsroom\/news-releases\/uscis-deploys-common-sense-tools-to-verify-voters\">announced<\/a> that a federal database typically used for naturalized citizens to seek benefits had been repurposed as a tool to check state voter registration systems for signs of noncitizens.<\/p>\n<p>The news came less than a month after the agency <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/news\/2025\/04\/22\/dhs-uscis-doge-overhaul-systematic-alien-verification-entitlements-database\">revealed<\/a> that staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency had implemented a \u201ccomprehensive optimization\u201d of the database, known as Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), that included the elimination of state-paid fees for searches and other unspecified changes to streamline mass status checks, integrate criminal records information and \u201cbreak down silos for accurate results,\u201d according to DOGE officials.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Further changes announced by the agency in May will allow states to run searches using Social Security numbers and conduct bulk searches. The explicit purpose of these modifications, as USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser put it in a statement, is to \u201chelp identify and stop aliens from hijacking our elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some Republican state election officials have embraced the moves, saying even the perception of fraud warrants tougher verification procedures. David Scanlan, New Hampshire\u2019s Republican secretary of state, called it a \u201cvoter confidence issue.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVoters in this country have a right to know who is participating in elections and that those individuals are qualified. SAVE is a tool that can help accomplish that,\u201d he wrote in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n<p>But other election officials and experts have expressed bewilderment as to why the Department of Homeland Security would attempt to use SAVE \u2014 an incomplete, often out-of-date database \u2014 to identify potential noncitizen voters.<\/p>\n<p>Others expressed more direct concerns that the SAVE changes appear to be the first steps in a larger plan by the White House to create new metrics that lend support to Trump\u2019s unproven claims that noncitizens are voting en masse for Democrats.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>At the same time, the Department of Justice and other federal agencies have begun filing lawsuits and accusing multiple states of having voter registration databases that are out of compliance with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), a law that dictates how much federal election grant funding each state receives annually.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration has already tried to use congressionally mandated funding to pressure states into adopting his preferred election policies. Numerous sources told CyberScoop that changes to SAVE, actions by the Department of Justice, and threats to withhold federal grants could create intense pressure on states to comply with White House demands. They also worried that inaccurate information from SAVE might be used in federal lawsuits or in the political arena to justify stricter federal actions related to voting.<\/p>\n<p>Jasleen Singh, counsel for the voting rights program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, was blunt in her view that the SAVE database changes look like another step in Trump\u2019s yearslong quest \u201cto unearth supposed noncitizen voters\u201d casting ballots for Democrats in droves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite that being a rare occurrence, we have multiple checks in place to ensure only citizens are voting, but this seems to be the latest tool that\u2019s being employed in furtherance of that lie,\u201d&nbsp; Singh said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She identified two recent changes to SAVE that raise concerns about possible voter disenfranchisement: allowing states to make bulk inquiries and permitting searches using Social Security numbers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/12024-10-24-Complaint.pdf\">Since 2009<\/a>, at least 10 states have used SAVE for voter registration and maintaining voter lists, although they may not have used it frequently. <a href=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/secretaries-state-letter-dhs-noem-noncitizen-voting-2025\/\">In a March letter<\/a> to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, a group of 21 Republican secretaries of state <a href=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/secretaries-state-letter-dhs-noem-noncitizen-voting-2025\/\">complained<\/a> that SAVE was unwieldy and requested improvements, like the recently added bulk search feature.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But Singh argued that SAVE is a poor fit for verifying U.S. voter citizenship status. The database only includes records for individuals who have previously interacted with the U.S. immigration system, which means it may miss many noncitizens who have not had such interactions or allow for searches related to citizens who have never interacted with the immigration system.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the switch to bulk inquiries could potentially allow states to run \u201cmassive\u201d searches using their voter file that \u201creturns incredibly high numbers of non-matches in the SAVE system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo there\u2019s a risk that a state could misuse the program, create the false impression that there are many, many noncitizens on the [voter] rolls, because SAVE can\u2019t verify citizenship, and then demand proof of citizenship from people who just aren\u2019t showing up in the search at all,\u201d&nbsp; Singh posited.<\/p>\n<p>Democracy Docket, a news outlet focused on elections founded by Democratic power lawyer Marc Elias, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/dhs-said-to-brief-cleta-mitchells-anti-voting-group-on-checking-citizenship-for-voters\/\">reported<\/a> the contents of an email sent to Election Integrity Network \u2014 a voter fraud conspiracy group led by Cleta Mitchell \u2014 advertising an upcoming Zoom meeting with USCIS associate chief David Jennings to discuss how SAVE could be used \u201cto aid in assuring noncitizens are removed from our voter rolls.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>States verify citizenship of registered voters in a variety of different ways, most commonly through their motor vehicle departments as residents get driver\u2019s licenses or other documentation. States that have conducted extensive audits of their own voter rolls, in some cases going back decades, have typically found no more than a dozen or so cases, with almost none of the people found <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiocapitaljournal.com\/2023\/09\/27\/ohio-sec-of-state-larose-flagged-more-than-520-cases-of-noncitizen-voter-fraud-only-one-was-legit\/\">actually casting votes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But that hasn\u2019t stopped Trump, who has falsely insisted since he was first elected in 2016 that U.S. elections are riddled with fraud, from claiming noncitizens are voting for his opponents in droves.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sources also generally described two separate but related threats around the SAVE changes: that the attempted overhaul of the database as a tool to track voter citizenship would lead to \u201cshoddy data gathering,\u201d as Singh put it, and that the data being collected and synthesized will be used by the Trump administration to buttress political attacks alleging that massive numbers of legal and eligible U.S. voters lack proof of citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Safety, called the Trump administration\u2019s overhaul of SAVE \u201crushed\u201d and \u201cdeeply concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am alarmed by the Department of Government Efficiency\u2019s (DOGE) access to its data and its attempt to market the database as a citizenship registry, despite the incomplete information it provides for verifying voter eligibility,\u201d Padilla told CyberScoop in a statement. \u201cI am committed to holding this Administration accountable and will continue to demand answers from USCIS in order to protect Americans\u2019 data and access to the ballot box.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Padilla is among the committee members who must vote on whether to confirm Joseph Edlow, USCIS\u2019s acting leader, as director of the agency. In written questions, Padilla asked Edlow about DOGE\u2019s access to SAVE, plans for using Social Security numbers and bulk searches, and whether the agency has tested the database\u2019s accuracy \u2014 especially regarding the risk of misidentifying eligible voters as noncitizens. He also asked whether USCIS will notify individuals before states remove them from voter databases based on SAVE data.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This data could be used&nbsp; by the administration to coerce states into adopting Trump\u2019s voter roll policies \u2014 through executive orders, federal lawsuits, and threats to withhold election grant funding by alleging noncompliance with HAVA.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Threats, legal challenges abound<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against North Carolina alleging noncompliance with HAVA around proof of citizenship. The Brennan Center has joined with North Carolina voters, as well as the League of Women\u2019s Voters, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and Forward Justice in an attempt to intervene in the DOJ\u2019s lawsuit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/25980095-doj-v-north-carolina-motion-to-intervene\/\">motion<\/a>, the groups cast the suit as another link in a chain of failed attempts by Republicans to subject North Carolina voters to \u201ca seemingly endless loop of scrutiny, despite doing everything they can to confirm that they were (or currently are) properly registered.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In addition to the DOJ\u2019s lawsuit against North Carolina, over the past two months it has also issued a statement of interest in support of an ongoing lawsuit alleging violations of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) against Oregon\u2019s state government, and sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/media\/1402606\/dl?inline=&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery\">letter<\/a> to the Wisconsin Board of Elections warning that it was in violation of HAVA and would have future funding pulled if the body failed to comply.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Multiple experts and election officials told CyberScoop the core complaints in some of these cases are so minor that they can\u2019t fathom why the federal government was filing a lawsuit over them.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the North Carolina lawsuit alleges that state election officials violated HAVA by failing&nbsp; \u201cto maintain accurate lists\u201d of eligible voters in its statewide voter database. The government\u2019s primary evidence for this claim was that North Carolina\u2019s voter registration form used red ink \u2014 which signified the information was voluntary \u2014 on the section asking voters for their driver\u2019s license number and last four digits of their Social Security number.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of North Carolina\u2019s Board of Elections from 2019 until May, told CyberScoop the issue was quickly fixed and the color of the ink was changed for new forms. Nevertheless, it was enough for DOJ to claim that \u201cthere currently are a significant number of voters that do not have a driver\u2019s license number, last four digits of a social security number, or any other identifying number, as required by Section 303 of HAVA, listed in North Carolina\u2019s state voter registration file.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Oregon lawsuit questions whether state governments can delegate voter roll&nbsp; maintenance to localities or if the NVRA requires states to manage it themselves. Since many states rely on localities for their voter registration verification, a ruling against Oregon could place extra legal and administrative burden on other states.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It could also feed political attacks from the Trump administration that states aren\u2019t doing enough to root out noncitizen voters, even as all other available evidence points to noncitizen voting being extremely rare and that perpetrators are easily caught.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>State officials contacted by CyberScoop gave varying reactions to the announced changes, with some embracing them, some expressing opposition or concerns and others citing the need for more information.<\/p>\n<p>Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger conducted his own state audit of noncitizen voters leading up to the 2024 election, which found 20 noncitizens registered to vote out of an eligible 8.2 million state voters \u2014 none of whom had attempted to cast a ballot in the upcoming elections. Notably, a check of state voter rolls against SAVE in 2022 identified a much higher number (1,634) of non-verified voters, something that resulted in the temporary suspension of their ability to vote in elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m proud to see DHS implementing the exact improvements we called for,\u201d Raffensperger said in a statement. \u201cThis new bulk verification tool will make it easier to keep our voter rolls clean, while still protecting every eligible voter\u2019s rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sos.state.tx.us\/about\/newsreleases\/2025\/060525.shtml\">claimed this month<\/a> that SAVE helped her office find the names of 33 \u201cpotential noncitizens\u201d who voted in last year\u2019s general election, and called the system a \u201cgame-changer.\u201d The Texas Attorney General\u2019s Office <a href=\"https:\/\/texasattorneygeneral.gov\/news\/releases\/attorney-general-ken-paxton-opens-investigations-33-noncitizens-illegally-voting-2024-election\">later confirmed<\/a> the identification of those voters and referrals leading to criminal investigations were established through the state\u2019s use of SAVE.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A spokesperson for Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office hasn\u2019t used SAVE because the state\u2019s data-sharing laws don\u2019t allow it. His office is allowed to share sensitive data, like residents\u2019 dates of birth and Social Security numbers, only with specific agencies for specific purposes, and USCIS isn\u2019t on the list.<\/p>\n<p>In New Hampshire, the legislature passed a law last year requiring all first-time voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. The law is <a href=\"https:\/\/newhampshirebulletin.com\/2025\/04\/28\/as-lawsuit-against-voter-registration-law-proceeds-attorneys-spar-over-who-can-sue\/\">currently being challenged<\/a> in a lawsuit by three U.S. citizens who were born in New Hampshire but weren\u2019t old enough to vote in 2024, claiming the law places an undue burden on them as eligible voters. Scanlon, the New Hampshire secretary of state, argued the issue was as much about perception as it was about reality.<\/p>\n<p>But Brinson Bell said that while it\u2019s not unheard of for states to tap databases like SAVE during investigations into voter fraud, it\u2019s rare because the system doesn\u2019t do a great job of tracking either the U.S. immigrant population or current immigration status.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we know is that this database is not a nationwide, universal database for all U.S. citizens or noncitizens. It\u2019s only there for those who were noncitizens seeking work \u2026 who may be in the database,\u201d Brinson Bell said. \u201cAnd then the update of that [database] as someone\u2019s status changes is not necessarily instantaneous. It\u2019s not even necessarily required.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David Levine, an election integrity consultant and senior fellow at the University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, said SAVE is not a comprehensive database of U.S. citizenship, noting \u201cthere is no single list of U.S. citizens anywhere.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Levine said that previous iterations of SAVE could be clunky and sometimes difficult to use, and <a href=\"https:\/\/embed.documentcloud.org\/documents\/805148-moa-dhs-fl-1\/\">previous agreements<\/a> between USCIS and states included language specifying that the information in SAVE is not sufficient to verify citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA newly expanded database that could serve as a single, reliable source for verifying immigration status and U.S. citizenship nationwide would be huge, presuming that its quality and operability are top notch,\u201d Levine said. \u201cHowever, if the recent overhaul of the SAVE database was conducted in a suboptimal manner, that could lead to errors that adversely affect eligible voters\u2019 access to the ballot and\/or undermine confidence in the voting process, more broadly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Doris Meissner, who was former President Bill Clinton\u2019s pick to head the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, said she remembers SAVE being widely used by states, but not for checking voter rolls. Repurposing the system should require plenty of testing, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think I would probably encourage that there be a pilot and do some random sampling in a couple jurisdictions and see what information comes back, and look at that same information to see whether those sources of validating voter rolls without it would have yielded similar or nonsimilar results,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The Institute for Responsive Government <a href=\"https:\/\/responsivegov.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/An-Updated-Federal-Database-to-Verify-Voter-Citizenship.pdf\">is also recommending<\/a> states proceed carefully, including by running tests that query the system using fabricated noncitizen records to see how it responds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Kim Wyman, Washington state\u2019s former secretary of state, said that while she believes SAVE will be helpful, \u201cit\u2019s not the end-all-be-all\u201d and that state election officials must rely on a host of verification measures for a task as sensitive as removing someone\u2019s ability to cast a vote. Relying on several data sources will be especially important, she said, because SAVE won\u2019t immediately reflect recently naturalized citizens who\u2019ve registered to vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a list of U.S. citizens,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it is a singular data point that may help election officials determine whether someone is eligible. But [then] that paperwork, from the moment they become a naturalized citizen to the moment that they\u2019re taken off the SAVE database, might be days, might be hours, it might be months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If placing additional information in the honest and careful hands of state election officials is a boon, many interviewed for this article expressed concern over the ease with which such a gift could be perverted. Kabbas Azhar, an Equal Justice Works fellow with the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the Trump administration\u2019s willingness to violate personal privacy by consolidating the personal information of Americans, along with its track record of flouting due process, should illustrate why SAVE \u201chas grave implications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be no surprise when a citizen\u2019s right to vote is inevitably undermined by mistakes in the system,\u201d Azhar wrote in an email. \u201cThere is no accountability, no explicit method outlined for how citizens can contest adverse decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"0.44285714285714\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by Derek B. 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Now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4459,338,292,4247,4460,4461,4462],"tags":[4463,341,298,4248,4464,4465,4466],"class_list":["post-7749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brad-raffensperger","category-department-of-justice-doj","category-election-security","category-hava","category-save-database","category-uscis","category-voter-fraud","tag-brad-raffensperger","tag-department-of-justice-doj","tag-election-security","tag-hava","tag-save-database","tag-uscis","tag-voter-fraud"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","chromenews-featured":"","chromenews-large":"","chromenews-medium":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"Cyber Scoop","author_link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/author\/cyberscoop\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/brad-raffensperger\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Brad Raffensperger<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/department-of-justice-doj\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Department of Justice (DOJ)<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/election-security\/\" rel=\"category tag\">election security<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/hava\/\" rel=\"category tag\">HAVA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/save-database\/\" rel=\"category tag\">SAVE database<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/uscis\/\" rel=\"category tag\">USCIS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/voter-fraud\/\" rel=\"category tag\">voter fraud<\/a>","tag_info":"voter fraud","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}