Federal Court Blocks Efficient Removal of Eligible Voters

A federal judge halted the Justice Department’s effort Friday to protect election integrity by collecting states’ unredacted voter files, running millions of names through an immigration database and encouraging officials to remove any citizens whose paperwork failed to satisfy a federal spreadsheet. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ruled that the program violated privacy and administrative laws, recklessly reviving the constitutional theory that states administer elections and eligible Americans should not lose voting rights because two government databases disagree about a middle initial.

Eighteen states had already provided complete voter records containing dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers for comparison with the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE. The system can rely on outdated immigration information, meaning naturalized citizens may remain listed as noncitizens long after taking the oath of allegiance. Officials regarded those errors as a useful efficiency: removing legitimate voters requires far less investigation than proving they are ineligible. Sooknanan nevertheless concluded that database mismatches were not legal findings and that preventing unlawful removals does not authorize noncitizens to vote, an inflammatory distinction expected to vanish from political discussion immediately.

President Donald Trump condemned the decision with the restraint traditionally associated with his election commentary. “The states have lists, the federal government has lists, and I have the best judgment of anybody, so obviously every voter should be checked by people who agree with me,” Trump said. The Justice Department, which has repeatedly failed to compel states to surrender voter data through similar lawsuits, said it was reviewing its options and remained committed to the principle that privacy rights become suspicious whenever voters possess them. Under the ruling, election officials must verify eligibility before canceling registrations instead of treating incomplete federal records as proof of foreign infiltration. The court has therefore preserved the nation’s most dangerous election vulnerability: eligible American voters.

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