The United States Supreme Court issued an emergency order on Friday permitting the Department of Homeland Security to utilize the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to verify voter eligibility on state election rolls. The decision comes just weeks before the November midterm elections, intensifying scrutiny over the administration’s approach to election integrity.
Voting rights advocates have opposed the deployment of the database, which underwent significant revisions during the Trump administration in 2025. Critics argue that the system is prone to errors that could falsely flag lawful voters as ineligible, potentially leading to wrongful removals from voter registries. Opponents point to outdated citizenship records within the system as a primary concern.
Evidence of such inaccuracies has surfaced locally. A Travis County, Texas election official reported that as many as 25 percent of individuals the system identified as non-citizens were, in fact, US citizens. While state constitutions grant authority over election administration to individual states and do not mandate the use of SAVE, several Republican-led governments have chosen to adopt the database voluntarily.
Despite the ruling, the immediate impact on the November 3 elections remains uncertain. Federal law generally prohibits states from systematically purging voters from rollswithin 90 days of an election. Furthermore, the Supreme Court’s order is interim in nature, granting permission only until a final judicial determination is reached.
The court’s three liberal justices issued a dissenting opinion, accusing the conservative majority of ignoring the documented harms inflicted on lawful voters by the modified SAVE system. The Citizens for Ethics watchdog group condemned the decision, stating it exposed millions of Americans to the risk of unlawful targeting by an unreliable voter purge mechanism so close to the vote.
The issue highlights the heightened focus on election administration by President Trump as the midterms approach, which serve as a critical check on his authority during the remainder of his term. Trump has long alleged unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud, including false assertions that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Available evidence indicates that election fraud, including voting by non-citizens, is extremely rare in the United States.
This ruling follows another recent decision in September, where the Supreme Court rejected a Trump administration effort to restrict mail ballot procedures prior to the midterm election.
Another conservative majority win with zero regard for actual documented harms. Democracy is dying, one emergency order at a time.
25 percent error rate in Texas alone? That’s not a bug, that’s a feature of this administration’s approach.
Interesting that federal law prohibits purging within 90 days. Does this ruling actually change anything for November?
So, the court lets this happen weeks before the election? I guess due process takes a backseat now.
This is terrifying. A system that wrongly flags citizens as non-citizens should never be used for voting checks.