Atlanta — Today, the U.S. Senate is expected to take up the SAVE America Act, legislation that would significantly increase the chance that U.S. citizens are incorrectly removed from the voter rolls. The bill would require states to use federal databases like the Department of Homeland (DHS) Security’s SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) database to verify citizenship status for individuals registering to vote in federal elections. 

Election administrators and voting experts say the proposal would represent a major shift in how voter registration systems operate nationwide, likely triggering more aggressive voter roll maintenance, increasing the risk that eligible Americans are removed from the rolls, and raising concerns about how voter data shared with DHS could be used in immigration enforcement actions or wrongful prosecution. If Americans are removed from the rolls wrongly, the SAVE America Act would force them to show specific government documents in order to re-register in time for 2026.

Experts have also raised concerns about requiring states to rely heavily on the SAVE database for voter verification, which was originally designed to verify immigration status for government benefit programs, not to administer elections. Specifically, the system was designed to verify immigration status for public benefits and has a documented history of data mismatches and incomplete records, particularly for naturalized citizens whose citizenship status may not be fully reflected in federal immigration files. Immigration and election experts warn that those gaps could cause eligible voters to be incorrectly flagged during verification checks, forcing election officials to remove voters based on inaccurate federal data.

“The SAVE America Act is really the Voter Elimination Act. It forces states to run their voter rolls through a DHS database that has been shown to mark citizens as non-citizens. This could create a system where flawed data and restrictive new documentation requirements lead to Americans being blocked from voting which is why Trump is so adamant that the Senate act. He wants to pick and choose who gets to vote. This Voter Elimination Act is a nationwide purge machine and voter suppression on steroids.” said Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight Action.

Why This Matters:

• The SAVE America Act would introduce a new federal verification system that could significantly affect how voter registration and list maintenance are conducted nationwide.
• The legislation would require states to run their voter registration rolls through a federal database. The SAVE database, a system originally built to verify immigration status for public benefit programs, has many documented instances of gaps and errors, potentially disenfranchising countless Americans as eligible voters could be incorrectly flagged during citizenship checks.
• If states are required to run frequent comparisons between voter rolls and the SAVE database, those mismatches could trigger investigations or removals from the rolls of eligible Americans. 
• When that happens close to an election, many voters only discover the issue when they show up to vote. At that point, correcting the error can be difficult or impossible depending on state procedures.
• In close elections, even relatively small numbers of mistaken removals can matter. If voters are incorrectly purged from the rolls and unable to resolve the issue before polls close, those lost votes can accumulate, particularly in large jurisdictions or competitive states where election margins are often decided by a few thousand votes.
• Systemic database errors and aggressive purge timelines could lead to eligible voters being disenfranchised, potentially affecting turnout and, in closely contested races, the final outcome of an election.

Key Facts About the SAVE America Act:

• Under the legislation, states would be required to run their voter rolls through a federal database, such as the SAVE database, to identify potential non-citizens.
• The SAVE system, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was originally designed for government agencies to verify immigration status for public benefit programs.
• The database has a documented history of data mismatches and incomplete records, particularly involving naturalized citizens whose citizenship status may not be fully reflected in federal immigration files. 
• Election administrators have also noted that implementing frequent cross-checks between state voter rolls and federal immigration databases could place significant administrative burdens on state and local election offices.
• Together, this legislation could increase the risk of eligible voters being removed from the rolls if verification systems produce inaccurate results.

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