Under President Donald Trump, DHS upgraded its Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, integrating data from the Social Security Administration and making the database available to state officials to confirm voter registrants’ citizenship for free.
The rapid expansion of a system previously used by federal agencies to confirm eligibility for social safety net benefits into a widely-accessible, centralized database of U.S. citizens creates considerable risks, Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said in a letter….
The senators said they were troubled that the SAVE program had been expanded without the normal amount of documentation and oversight, including public notice and notice to Congress. And they said they are “gravely concerned” that a DHS official briefed members of the Election Integrity Network, a group that advocates for tightening voting rules and was founded by Trump ally Cleta Mitchell, about the developments in June — a briefing first reported by Democracy Docket.