WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is pressing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for information on recent reports that the Department’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) is being used to verify voter eligibility.
In a letter sent to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Peters and U.S. Senators Alex Padilla, (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Rules and Administration and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), raised concerns about relying on SAVE as a standalone tool for voter eligibility verification due to potential data quality issues, which may produce false positives or incomplete results. These outcomes would place additional burdens on state and local officials to verify citizenship status and ensure that eligible voters are not removed from the rolls.
“Public transparency and assurances that the Department is appropriately protecting citizens’ rights, including privacy, is extremely important,”wrote the senators. “Unfortunately, DHS has not issued any of the routine and required documentation about the program’s operations and safeguards or issued any public notice or notice to Congress. Recent reports indicate that the Department of Homeland Security has run more than 9 million voter records through the new SAVE system. It has been reported that the Department is apparently preparing to urge all state election officials to use this program but has not provided these officials with any briefings about its capabilities or safeguards.”
Despite the program’s increased use, DHS has not provided public notice or briefed Congress.
“We are also gravely concerned that the Department has not shared information with lawmakers and the public, but did reportedly provide a private advance briefing about the changes to the database to the Election Integrity Network, an organization founded by Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who worked to overturn the results of the 2020 election,” continued the senators.
“We respectfully seek responses no later than July 29, 2025,” concluded the senators. “You have a responsibility to assure the public that the Department is acting appropriately to protect citizens’ rights and personally identifiable data.”
The full text of the letter can be found here.