Statement: The Voter Participation Center Condemns the U.S. Supreme Court’s Authorization of SAVE Database for Voter Verification

The Voter Participation Center (VPC) strongly condemns the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today in League of Women Voters v. Department of Homeland Security, which allows the Trump administration to deploy its overhauled Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to flag voters for citizenship review.

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, Tom Lopach, President and CEO of the Voter Participation Center, released the following statement:

“Today’s ruling gives the federal government the green light to use an error-prone database to second-guess the citizenship of eligible American voters. Noncitizen voting is already extremely rare and a federal offense. States have proven systems to verify voter eligibility. Relying on incomplete federal data to administer elections puts millions of lawful citizens at serious risk of being wrongly flagged and denied the right to vote.

“When this database is deployed, we know exactly who it will target: naturalized citizens, married women whose legal names don’t match their birth records, and voters whose files don’t sync across government systems. We know that this administration will use this database to profile and disadvantage underrepresented communities, all while increasing the systemic advantages that white voters already have. They are not targeting fraud – they are targeting eligible American voters of color. Americans will be forced to jump through unfair, unnecessary hoops to prove their eligibility. This is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to pick and choose their voters.

“This moment is precisely why organizations like ours exist. The Voter Participation Center remains committed to supporting every eligible American’s right to vote, and to turning out eligible voters from underrepresented communities — especially people of color, young people, and unmarried women. Today’s Supreme Court decision is disappointing, but voters must not let the administration’s efforts deter them from making a plan to cast a ballot this November. The ballot box remains every voter’s strongest tool to push back.”

The Voter Participation Center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing civic engagement and closing voter registration and turnout gaps. Since 2003, VPC has helped register millions of voters—particularly among historically underrepresented communities—and continues to run the nation’s largest mail-based and digital voter engagement programs.