New Complaint: DHS Data May Be Wrongly Removing Voters
▼ Summary
– The Trump administration expanded immigration enforcement and promoted using federal data to verify voter citizenship, leading to the SAVE program’s overhaul for this purpose.
– The expanded SAVE system now accesses data from multiple federal agencies on both immigrants and citizens, which experts warn can lead to errors in identifying voter eligibility.
– A lawsuit alleges this system has already caused US citizens, like Anthony Nel in Texas, to be wrongfully removed from voter rolls based on inaccurate data.
– The legal complaint argues the creation of a national citizenship database through SAVE is unconstitutional and is disenfranchising eligible voters ahead of a critical election.
– Twenty-two states have agreements to use SAVE for bulk voter verification, despite the system’s original 1986 purpose being solely to check immigrant eligibility for government benefits.
A new legal challenge raises serious concerns that a federal program designed to verify citizenship for voter registration is already leading to the wrongful removal of eligible American citizens from state rolls. The complaint, filed by advocacy groups, argues that the expansion of a Department of Homeland Security database is creating an unconstitutional national citizenship registry fraught with errors that threaten voting rights.
The controversy centers on the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, originally established in 1986 to help states determine if immigrants qualified for public benefits. Historically, it did not contain data on native-born U.S. citizens. However, under the current administration’s focus on immigration enforcement, DHS has dramatically widened the system’s scope. It now aggregates information from multiple federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, creating a much broader pool of data that includes citizens.
This expansion followed an executive order directing DHS to assist states in verifying the citizenship status of individuals on voter rolls. In May, the agency began actively promoting SAVE as a tool for states to check their voter registration lists. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the objective is to prevent noncitizens from voting. Twenty-two states, including Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, reportedly have agreements to use SAVE for bulk verification of voter citizenship.
Legal experts and privacy advocates warn that merging disparate datasets collected for unrelated purposes is a recipe for inaccuracy. “Eligible US citizen voters will be wrongfully purged from voter rolls based on inaccurate data from the illegally overhauled SAVE system,” said Nikhel Sus of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is representing the plaintiffs. The lawsuit, filed against DHS and the Social Security Administration by the League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), alleges the program’s very creation violates the Constitution.
Evidence suggests these warnings are materializing. The complaint highlights the case of Anthony Nel, a U.S. citizen in Texas who was flagged as a “potential noncitizen” by the SAVE system. The suit states that SAVE identified Nel based on outdated information, resulting in the wrongful cancellation of his voter registration. Texas officials had previously announced the identification of over 2,700 such “potential noncitizens” using the tool, a list that included Nel.
“We’re talking about a known error rate that will result, and already has resulted, in multiple people being kicked off the voter rolls, going into a critical election,” said John Davisson, director of litigation at EPIC. The plaintiffs argue that the system’s flaws and the potential for disenfranchisement are direct consequences of its rapid, politically driven expansion beyond its original purpose. DHS did not respond to requests for comment on the litigation.
(Source: Wired)
