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The Trump administration has processed at least 67 million voter records through the federal SAVE program—short for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements—of the Department of Homeland Security, in a massive effort to verify voters' citizenship ahead of the November 2026 elections, according to a report by the AP agency this Sunday.
At least 25 states—mostly controlled by Republicans—have participated in the program since April 2025, when the administration significantly expanded its search capabilities.
Out of the 60 million records verified in a year, the system identified approximately 24,000 possible non-citizens.
The Deputy Secretary of Justice Harmeet Dhillon stated on Fox News that the checks also identified approximately 350,000 people who have apparently passed away.
North Carolina additionally processed 7.4 million records, identifying another 34,000 potentially deceased voters, bringing the total number of possible deceased individuals in the 67 million records to approximately 384,000, which is a fraction of 1% of the total.
The possible non-citizens represent approximately 400 for every million verified records, a proportion that critics point to as evidence that the phenomenon of non-citizen voting is extremely rare.
However, the central issue that civil rights advocates highlight is not the magnitude of the detected fraud, but the flaws in the system.
Cases like that of Anthony Nel, a 29-year-old naturalized citizen originally from South Africa, illustrate the risk: his registration was temporarily canceled in Texas after being flagged as a possible non-citizen, despite having arrived in the country at the age of eight and becoming a citizen at 16.
"It is clear that the process they have initiated for this is not working," declared Nel, who is a plaintiff in one of at least six federal lawsuits filed against the SAVE program or against states that utilize it.
In Dallas, the attorney and voting rights activist Domingo García, 68 years old, had his registration canceled without explanation, despite having voted for 50 years and having participated in the primaries on March 3rd.
"It shouldn't have been on any list," García stated.
The SAVE program—an acronym for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements—was originally created to prevent non-citizens from receiving government benefits, and over 1,300 agencies currently use it.
Its expansion into the electoral realm is part of a broader effort by Trump to federalize certain electoral functions, formalized through the executive order 14399, signed on March 31, which directs the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to create state lists of verified citizens at least 60 days before each federal election.
Florida continued this trend with the approval of the "Florida SAVE Act", signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on April 2, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The state will also include migration status in its electoral verification processes.
The Department of Justice has sued states that refuse to provide their unredacted voter lists, but the courts have dismissed several of those lawsuits, including the one filed against Massachusetts, which was thrown out last Thursday by Judge Leo Sorokin on the grounds that the government did not adequately explain the basis and purpose of its request.
Freda Levenson, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, summarized the critical stance as follows: "Shoot first and ask questions later."
"If a voter is erroneously removed, by the time they find out and correct it, they may have already lost their chance to vote in that election," warned Levenson, whose organization is challenging an Ohio law that requires monthly checks with the SAVE system.
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