Trump administration’s SAVE system checks 33 million voters, raises privacy concerns

A new Trump administration tool designed to verify voter citizenship has already been used to check the records of more than 33 million Americans, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The updated Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, allows election officials to confirm citizenship or death records using voters’ names, birth dates, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.

The tool, free for states and capable of bulk searches, has led to actions such as Louisiana identifying 390 suspected noncitizens on voter rolls, 79 of whom had cast ballots since the 1980s. Secretary of State Nancy Landry said her office is working with the FBI and providing flagged voters 21 days to prove citizenship.

While some Republicans have embraced SAVE as a safeguard, others remain cautious. North Carolina and Mississippi officials cited unanswered questions about how DHS stores data and who has access. Under current policy, queries are retained for 10 years.

Democrats in Congress have pressed DHS for clarity, warning the system could evolve into a de facto national voter list. Voting rights advocates fear false positives could wrongly disenfranchise citizens, echoing past instances where flawed data led to improper removals.

Sources:

• NPR