The system is technically called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, but it’s better known for its acronym: SAVE. The point of the Department of Homeland Security’s program is straightforward: The Cabinet agency claims it’s created a comprehensive federal database of eligible voters, which can and should be used to confirm the legitimacy of voter rolls.
Republican officials appear quite excited about its potential. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, for example, boasted about the “SAVE Program” during an event in Arizona last week.
The South Dakota Republican stood in front of a display, which included an image of her standing alongside Donald Trump, with a headline that read, “SAVE AMERICA ACT.” That referred to federal legislation, championed by GOP officials, which would make it harder to register to vote and cast ballots, while also requiring states to use the SAVE tool that Noem referenced.
There are plenty of problems associated with the broader drive to place new barriers between voters and their own democracy, but there’s an even more specific problem related to the tool itself: It doesn’t appear to work nearly as well as Republicans like to pretend.
ProPublica reported that SAVE used to exist to check immigrants’ eligibility for public benefits, but at the president’s insistence, it’s been rapidly and dramatically expanded. The resulting flaws appear systemic. From the report:
[A]n examination of SAVE’s rollout by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reveals that DHS rushed the revamped tool into use while it was still adding data and before it could discern voters’ most up-to-date citizenship information.
As a result, SAVE has made persistent mistakes, particularly in assessing the status of people born outside the U.S., data gathered from local election administrators, interviews and emails obtained via public records requests show. Some of those people subsequently become U.S. citizens, a step that the system doesn’t always pick up.
Two reliably red states — Texas and Missouri — were out in front in embracing SAVE, which in hindsight, probably wasn’t a great idea.
ProPublica found that state officials in Missouri, for example, acted on SAVE’s findings before attempting to confirm them, and directed local election administrators to temporarily disenfranchise those who were flagged as potential noncitizens.
Hundreds of American citizens were mistakenly flagged because of errors included in the federal system.
There were related problems in 29 counties in Texas.
To date, 27 states have embraced SAVE. It’s not yet clear how many of them now regret it.
