The NPR Politics Podcast

States Use Trump Administration Data System To Root Out Noncitizen Voters

43 snips
Sep 15, 2025
Miles Parks, an NPR correspondent focused on voting, and Jude Joffe-Block, a power and influence reporter, delve into the controversial SAVE system. They discuss how states have processed over 33 million voter records to verify citizenship, raising concerns about accuracy and potential misuse. The duo explores the political ramifications of this initiative and contrasts it with other voter verification systems. They also analyze the motivations behind the government's efforts to identify non-citizen voters amidst claims of widespread fraud.
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INSIGHT

What SAVE Is And How It Changed

  • SAVE is a DHS database that links multiple federal data sources to check immigration and citizenship records.
  • The Trump administration revamped it to let states run entire voter rolls through citizenship checks.
INSIGHT

Sensitive Data And Long Retention

  • States must provide last four digits of Social Security numbers to run checks through SAVE.
  • DHS retention rules mean data run through SAVE is stored by the federal government for ten years.
ANECDOTE

Louisiana's Full-Roll Check

  • Louisiana ran nearly all 2.9 million voters through SAVE and found 79 suspected non-citizen voters who voted since the 1980s.
  • The state will ask those people to prove citizenship and may refer names to law enforcement for prosecution.
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