US Immigration Data Being Used to Disenfranchise American Citizens, New Complaint Alleges
A recent complaint has accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) of using immigration data to disenfranchise eligible US citizens from voting. The complaint claims that millions of Americans have been wrongly kicked off state voter rolls due to inaccuracies in the new Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.
The SAVE program, which was originally designed to verify immigrants' eligibility for government services, has been expanded to include data on natural-born US citizens. This expansion has led to errors, including identifying US citizens as noncitizens and canceling their voter registrations.
According to the complaint, some states have already started using the SAVE program to check voter rolls against immigration data. The result is that eligible US citizen voters are being wrongfully purged from voter rolls due to inaccurate data from the SAVE system.
Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced in October that the state had identified 2,724 "potential noncitizens" who were registered to vote. However, one of those individuals, Anthony Nel, was a US citizen who had his voter registration canceled after being flagged by the SAVE system.
Experts warn that using disparate sources of data can lead to errors and inaccuracies in the new program. A recent analysis found that the SAVE system was not in compliance with privacy regulations due to its lack of electronic records from 1981 onwards.
"This is 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 and senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
The complaint argues that DHS and SSA lack statutory or constitutional authority to transform SAVE into a national data bank to conduct citizenship checks for purposes of determining individuals' eligibility to vote.
"This is not just about voter ID laws; it's about sowing distrust in our election results," said Nikhel Sus, deputy chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "By targeting the most fundamental right of democracy, we have to give consideration and gather input."
The use of social security data to create a national citizenship verification system extends far beyond DHS' authority. Congress has provided no specific statutory authorization for DHS to create such a system.
As the midterms inch closer, concerns are growing about voting access and the potential impact of this new program on US citizens. The hurdles from the SAVE program have already raised eyebrows among voting advocates, who worry that eligible voters may lose their right to participate in elections due to bureaucratic errors.
A recent complaint has accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) of using immigration data to disenfranchise eligible US citizens from voting. The complaint claims that millions of Americans have been wrongly kicked off state voter rolls due to inaccuracies in the new Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.
The SAVE program, which was originally designed to verify immigrants' eligibility for government services, has been expanded to include data on natural-born US citizens. This expansion has led to errors, including identifying US citizens as noncitizens and canceling their voter registrations.
According to the complaint, some states have already started using the SAVE program to check voter rolls against immigration data. The result is that eligible US citizen voters are being wrongfully purged from voter rolls due to inaccurate data from the SAVE system.
Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced in October that the state had identified 2,724 "potential noncitizens" who were registered to vote. However, one of those individuals, Anthony Nel, was a US citizen who had his voter registration canceled after being flagged by the SAVE system.
Experts warn that using disparate sources of data can lead to errors and inaccuracies in the new program. A recent analysis found that the SAVE system was not in compliance with privacy regulations due to its lack of electronic records from 1981 onwards.
"This is 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 and senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
The complaint argues that DHS and SSA lack statutory or constitutional authority to transform SAVE into a national data bank to conduct citizenship checks for purposes of determining individuals' eligibility to vote.
"This is not just about voter ID laws; it's about sowing distrust in our election results," said Nikhel Sus, deputy chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "By targeting the most fundamental right of democracy, we have to give consideration and gather input."
The use of social security data to create a national citizenship verification system extends far beyond DHS' authority. Congress has provided no specific statutory authorization for DHS to create such a system.
As the midterms inch closer, concerns are growing about voting access and the potential impact of this new program on US citizens. The hurdles from the SAVE program have already raised eyebrows among voting advocates, who worry that eligible voters may lose their right to participate in elections due to bureaucratic errors.
I think it's crazy that they're using immigration data to try to figure out if people are really US citizens or not. Like, how is that even possible? 
And what's the deal with all these "potential noncitizens" being flagged and having their voter registration canceled? That's just a whole mess of problems! 
I mean, I get it, they want to make sure people are who they say they are, but come on, can't we trust our citizens to be honest about that stuff? 
And what really gets me is that this is already causing people to lose their right to vote due to errors. That's just a huge bummer! 
This is so messed up! I mean, can you imagine getting canceled from your voter registration because of some tiny mistake in a database? 
It's like they're treating US citizens like, well, non-citizens or something! 
The fact that this data is being used to disenfranchise people and sowing distrust in election results is just plain wrong. 
We can't let bureaucratic errors dictate who gets to vote or participate in democracy! 
and I'm still thinking about how beautiful it was to watch the sunset behind those trees... anyway, have you guys ever noticed how weird it is when you're trying to get something done online but your browser keeps freezing? It's like, what even is going on?! 
we need to make sure our voting systems are secure not rigged against us 
These mistakes are happening because of errors from the SAVE program, which was meant for immigrants but now includes natural-born US citizens too. 
Can't stress this enough: voting access matters! Let's keep an eye on this and make sure everything gets fixed before the midterms. 
. Can't we just get something right for once? 
It's not like it's rocket science to have accurate data, but noooo... now we're talking about millions of Americans possibly losing their right to vote 
Are our voting systems really so unreliable that we need to be checking every single person's immigration status just to make sure they're legit? 
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need to get a move on and fix this ASAP before it affects the midterms. we cant afford any more screw-ups 
i mean, i know we need to keep track of people's info but come on, use a better system than the one that's already failing. 2k+ people got purged from voter rolls in TX alone and now you're saying it's just a minor error? 
the fact that states are already using this data to cancel ppl's voter registrations is just crazy 