The US Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to use an expanded federal database to verify voters’ citizenship ahead of the midterm congressional elections in November, the Financial Times reports.
The Supreme Court lifted a block imposed by a lower court on the US Department of Homeland Security’s use of the SAVE system to check voter rolls.
A majority of the justices said the federal government must respond to requests from states and local authorities to verify the citizenship of people registered to vote.
The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system was created in 1986 to verify people’s immigration status and determine their eligibility to take part in certain federal programmes.
Over the past 18 months, the Trump administration has significantly expanded its capabilities. The system can now use Social Security Administration data and other federal records, including information on US citizens born in the country.
The US Department of Justice says the updated system is capable of processing more than a million requests a day.
The expansion of SAVE was challenged by organisations that defend voting rights. They argue that the system could mistakenly identify citizens as non-citizens, and that its use creates risks to privacy and voting rights.
Court filings cited instances of errors during citizenship checks.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said that even the potential disenfranchisement of a small number of lawful voters could have serious consequences.
- On 31 March, Trump signed an executive order that requires states to upload, 60 days before an election, the voter lists of those voting by post to a special US Postal Service portal. The document also calls for a new design of ballot envelopes with unique barcodes. Without the data upload and the appropriate labelling, the postal service would be entitled not to deliver ballots.