Records show Trump administration enlisting Americans’ drivers license and passport data to chase virtually nonexistent “non-citizen voting”
Experts warn the Trump administration’s efforts could be used for large-scale purges of eligible voters from the rolls
New records obtained by American Oversight — and reported this morning by Mother Jones — reveal the Trump administration is seeking nationwide access to Americans’ driver’s license information, in addition to U.S. passport data, as part of a sweeping expansion of the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system. The documents show officials working to enable bulk searches of these sensitive datasets and to extend SAVE access to local law enforcement agencies, dramatically broadening the program’s reach — and potential misuse — under the guise of combating virtually nonexistent “non-citizen voting.”
Experts warn the effort could facilitate voter roll purges, fuel election integrity misinformation and disinformation, and dramatically escalate the federal government’s access to sensitive personal data.
Louisiana recently used the SAVE data system to check the citizenship status of its registered voters. However, state officials reported that the system flagged just 79 instances of voting by suspected noncitizens in at least one election since the 1980s — a figure that represents only 0.0027 percent of the state’s 2.9 million registered voters, and may include some individuals who are in fact eligible to vote.
“The Trump administration is taking its attacks on the right to vote to new extremes — building a vast federal data system of Americans’ most sensitive personal information under the guise of ‘election integrity,’” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director, American Oversight. “By sweeping up driver’s license and passport data from across the country, they’re laying the groundwork for a system that could easily be misused to make it harder for people to exercise their constitutional right to cast a ballot. There’s no transparency, no clear explanation of how this data will be used, and no apparent safeguards against the inevitable errors and discrimination this kind of effort invites. Given this administration’s track record of weaponizing federal agencies to chase baseless voter-fraud conspiracies and challenge voters’ eligibility, the public should be deeply concerned about what’s being built behind closed doors with their tax dollars — and the threat it could pose to voters.”