Why It Matters
Texas’s use of a federal database to identify potential noncitizens on voter rolls has drawn scrutiny from state election officials over data reliability. Accuracy concerns could affect thousands of voters and influence how states deploy citizenship-verification tools ahead of future elections.
What Happened
The Texas Secretary of State’s Office flagged more than 2,000 potential noncitizens on the state voter roll using the federal SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) system. In April, Secretary of State Jane Nelson sent a letter to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services raising concerns about SAVE’s accuracy and requesting that federal officials confirm the citizenship status of individuals the system had previously identified as non-citizens.
The Secretary of State’s Office has not yet received a response from USCIS. Nelson’s tenure ended July 17, and the governor has not yet announced a replacement.
The issue gained urgency after county voter registrars were able to obtain citizenship documentation proving that some voters flagged by SAVE were actually citizens. The Secretary of State’s Office initially did not cross-check the SAVE results against Texas Department of Public Safety records before sending the flagged names to counties in December. Following a March lawsuit filed by voting rights groups and Texas voters, the office asked the DPS in May to verify a list of 2,724 potential noncitizens identified by SAVE.
The elections division director reported “discrepancies” between the DPS data and SAVE data. State officials are currently reviewing the DPS information before deciding how to distribute it to county election officials.
By the Numbers
2,000+ — potential noncitizens flagged on Texas voter rolls by SAVE system
2,724 — individuals referred to Texas Department of Public Safety for citizenship verification in May
18 million+ — total registered voters on Texas voter roll
June — month a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s SAVE program overhaul
The Federal Overhaul and Court Challenge
The Trump administration redesigned SAVE last year, eliminating fees for state use and streamlining the search process. Texas was among the first states to adopt the revamped tool for voter eligibility checks. However, a federal judge blocked the SAVE overhaul in June, citing violations of privacy and voting rights law. In response, the Trump administration paused certain SAVE features, though a separate federal judge subsequently ordered the Department of Homeland Security to restore access for Florida, Ohio, Iowa, and Indiana.
Zoom Out
The accuracy dispute reflects broader tension over voter roll maintenance. States have pursued various methods to identify ineligible voters—from citizenship verification databases to cross-state data sharing. Election security and voter access remain competing priorities, with federal courts increasingly scrutinizing the tools and processes states deploy.
Election advocates have raised concerns about the potential for false positives in automated systems. One election rights group noted that Texas’s reliance on the SAVE system “has always raised significant risks of voter disenfranchisement, given that system’s known inaccuracies.”
What’s Next
Texas state officials are completing their review of DPS verification data for the 2,724 flagged voters. County election officials are awaiting guidance on how to proceed with the discrepancies identified between federal and state records. The absence of a confirmed response from federal immigration officials to the Secretary of State’s April inquiry leaves the state’s path forward uncertain, particularly as new questions about SAVE accuracy persist in federal courts.