In a significant legal setback for the federal effort to increase scrutiny of voter rolls, a U.S. district judge on Monday blocked the administration from using a modified immigration verification system to check state voter lists.
The Department of Homeland Security last year altered a system designed to confirm citizenship and immigration status. Those changes permitted users to conduct bulk searches of records. The updates followed an executive order from President Donald Trump that allowed state and local authorities to verify voter immigration status.
U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Washington, D.C. issued a 75-page ruling that prevented the administration from deploying the revised system for the stated purpose of vetting voter rolls. The judge resolved the case in favor of voting rights and privacy organizations that had challenged the overhaul.
The plaintiffs argued that the changes to the system, known as SAVE, diminished its accuracy and introduced the potential for eligible voters to be wrongly removed from registration lists. The court opinion adopted those concerns as part of its rationale for blocking use of the modified database in the context of voter verification.
Observers note the ruling emerges as Republicans confront a competitive environment in their bid to retain control of both chambers of Congress at the November 3 midterm elections. The decision effectively pauses a component of the administration's broader approach to expanding federal involvement in election administration ahead of that date.
Background of the system change
The system at issue had previously verified citizenship and immigration status for other federal purposes. The revision implemented last year allowed broader querying capabilities, notably bulk searches, and was undertaken after the executive directive permitting verification of voter immigration status by state and local officials.
Court reasoning and parties
Judge Sooknanan's 75-page opinion sided with voting rights and privacy advocates who contended the SAVE modifications reduced reliability and risked disenfranchisement. The ruling prevents the administration from applying the altered system to state voter roll verification while the legal challenge proceeds.
The judge presiding over the case was appointed by President Joe Biden.