politics
Federal judge blocks use of welfare database for voter checks
A federal judge ruled that the Department of Homeland Security cannot repurpose a system designed to verify welfare eligibility for checking voter citizenship. The decision halts an expansion of the SAVE database that had flagged thousands of potential noncitizens on state rolls.
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A federal judge ruled Monday that the Department of Homeland Security cannot use a database built for welfare eligibility checks to verify voters' citizenship status. The ruling found that federal law bars the agency from expanding the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, known as SAVE, for that purpose.
Background on the database SAVE combines records from Social Security, the State Department, Homeland Security and participating states. Officials have run more than 60 million names through the system to identify duplicates and ineligible voters. A document reviewed earlier this year showed the checks flagged more than 25,000 names on state voter lists as possible noncitizens and identified more than 330,000 deceased individuals still listed as active voters.
Lawsuit and immediate effects The League of Women Voters filed the suit that produced the ruling. The judge ordered DHS to stop using the database for the expanded voter checks.
“All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote. This court cannot stand idly by while that happens.”
