DHS Agreements Detail Risks in Voter Citizenship Checks Using Social Security Data
WASHINGTON – Agreements between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and individual states reveal potential vulnerabilities and privacy concerns surrounding the Trump administration’s expanded use of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) data to verify voter citizenship, according to documents obtained by the ACLU and reviewed by ProPublica. The initiative, utilizing the Systematic alien Verification for Electoral Integrity (SAVE) system, has already processed over 33 million voter records as of last month, raising alarms among voting rights advocates.
The agreements, initially signed by 11 states coming into 2025, have since expanded to include 21 states as of July. They outline a process where election officials are required to take additional verification steps for voters flagged by SAVE as potentially not being U.S.citizens, ultimately requiring contact with the voter for proof of citizenship if verification fails.
Initial SAVE results, detailed in an ACLU-obtained document, show that as of late August, 96.3% of voters checked were identified as U.S. citizens. 3.1% of records either yielded no match or required further information, 0.5% were identified as deceased, and 0.04% were flagged as noncitizens.
Experts warn that even these verification steps may not be sufficient to prevent errors. kathleen romig, a former Social Security official now with the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities, cautioned against potential disenfranchisement. “if ther’s Jane Smith that is a citizen, and a Jane Smith that isn’t, you don’t want to disenfranchise the citizen Jane Smith by accident,” she said.
Concerns center on potential inaccuracies due to mismatched or incomplete data. Many states collect only partial Social security numbers, increasing the risk of false matches given shared names.
The DHS plans to further expand SAVE’s data sources,with passport information from the State Department slated to be integrated. The State Department deferred comment to DHS, which did not respond to inquiries.
Naomi Gilens, counsel for Protect Democracy, emphasized the broader implications of consolidating such extensive personal data. “That is a very invasive picture that starts to be painted, in one place, for every individual who lives here’s private lives,” she said, raising concerns about potential misuse by current and future administrations.
