Using SAVE's Immigration Data for Voter Eligibility Verification Raises Questions

For Immediate Release
August 2, 2012

Washington D.C. - Today the Immigration Policy Center releases Using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program for Voter Eligibility Verification a fact sheet that explores how the SAVE program works and if it is a useful tool for voter eligibility verification. Some states have asked the federal government for access to immigration data in order to determine whether non-citizens are on the voter registration rolls. After initial refusals, in July 2012, the Director of USCIS advised the Florida Secretary of State that states, under limited circumstances, may use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program for verification of the citizenship status of registered voters. Since then, other state have expressed an interest in using SAVE for this purpose.

Yet what’s been lost in the struggle over these voter purges is that the SAVE Program was not designed to verify whether an individual is eligible to vote, and using SAVE for this purpose may lead to denying U.S. citizens the right to vote. The SAVE program is an electronic, fee-based system operated by USCIS to verify that a person actually has the immigration status his documents indicate or that the immigration information he has provided is accurate. It is used to help verify eligibility for government benefits and licensing agencies or other lawful purposes. It is NOT a database or list of all non-citizens. There is no national database of all citizens that states can check to prove U.S. citizenship or voter eligibility. The SAVE program can only verify information contained in immigration records.

Clearly there are many unanswered questions about the use of SAVE to purge voter registration rolls. This fact sheet seeks to answer those questions.

To view the fact sheet in its entirely see:
Using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program for Voter Eligibility Verification (IPC Fact Check, August, 2012)
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For more information contact Michele Waslin at 202-507-7521 or mwaslin@immcouncil.org