States Agree To Help DHS Expand Voter Citizenship Database

Republican-led states including Iowa have entered into a legal settlement with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to aid in the implementation and broader access of a nationwide citizenship verification system for voter records. The agreement, which was filed on Friday, involves four states—Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Iowa—and DHS, aiming to enhance the accuracy of voter eligibility checks through an advanced federal network.

The initiative expands the capabilities of the SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Recent Immigrants) program, originally designed as a tool to verify immigration status for individuals applying for government benefits. Federal officials have recently integrated bulk search functionality into SAVE, enabling it to scan large datasets across state and federal voter records. This integration connects SAVE with other federal databases such as Social Security information.

In exchange for this collaboration, the participating states agree to provide DHS with 1,000 randomly selected driver’s license records within ninety days. These records will undergo a quality review process through SAVE’s system. The agreement further directs states to “make best efforts” in assisting DHS to fully utilize state-provided data files related to voter registrations and licenses.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate emphasized the importance of this arrangement as an additional tool for ensuring that those registered to vote are confirmed U.S. citizens. According to reports from 2024, his office previously flagged more than two thousand one hundred registrants based on discrepancies in state records alone; follow-up checks later determined that two hundred seventy-seven lacked U.S. citizenship.

The expansion of SAVE has drawn criticism from several Democratic officials, who argue it could lead to a massive federal database holding highly sensitive personal information not necessarily pertinent to election administration. While supporters claim the program strengthens safeguards against non-citizen voting and improves voter roll accuracy, detractors worry about privacy implications without fully understanding the scope or intent behind the changes.

As part of broader enforcement activities linked to SAVE, DHS has requested access to unredacted copies of state-level voter rolls from participating jurisdictions. Multiple related lawsuits filed by the Department of Justice seeking this data are currently pending in various courts across the United States.