SAVE System
DHS immigration status database expanded by DOGE to screen voter rolls with 17% error rate.
Last refreshed: 12 April 2026
How accurate is the SAVE system when used to check voter eligibility?
Timeline for SAVE System
Mentioned in: Three Federal Courts Block Seven EO Provisions
US Midterms 2026DOJ Sues 29 States for Voter Data
US Midterms 2026Mentioned in: SAVE System Flags 1 in 6 Wrongly
US Midterms 2026What is the SAVE system and why is it being used for voter rolls?
How many people has the SAVE system wrongly flagged as non-citizens?
Which states refused to give voter data to the DOJ?
Background
The SAVE System (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) is a Department of Homeland Security database originally designed to verify immigration status for benefit eligibility decisions. In 2025-2026, DOGE expanded its application to screen state voter registration rolls for potential non-citizen voters. The DOJ admitted in court that voter data obtained from states would be shared with DHS for SAVE system citizenship screening.
Early implementation revealed significant accuracy problems: SAVE flagged 17% of individuals as potentially ineligible to vote, meaning roughly one in six people identified as non-citizens were in fact US citizens. A DOGE employee signed a voter data agreement with True the Vote on 24 March 2025, channelling Social Security Administration records into the system. The DOJ privacy officer resigned rather than implement the data-sharing plan, and two former DOGE staffers were referred to a watchdog for possible Hatch Act violations.
Three federal courts blocked the voter file collection provisions of Trump's March 2026 executive order, halting the broader SAVE expansion to voter rolls while allowing Section 2b, the DHS/DOGE review using already-collected data, to proceed. Twenty-nine states and DC that refused to share voter files were sued by the DOJ; seventeen Republican-led states complied voluntarily. The SAVE Act, legislation that would codify the screening requirement, stalled in the Senate after Majority Leader Thune declined to use the nuclear option to force a vote.