The Supreme Court revived a voter-citizenship database on September 25, 2026, less than two months before the midterm elections. The court's ruling favored the Trump administration, which aims to utilize the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE database to review state voter rolls for potential noncitizens. Geoff Bennett discussed the implications of this decision with Jessica Huseman, editor in chief of Votebeat.
In the ruling, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court's June decision that blocked modifications to the SAVE database planned for 2025. These modifications would have allowed states to conduct mass checks of individuals' citizenship status on their voter rolls. While states can now begin this process, Huseman noted that the timing of the upcoming election means that voters are unlikely to see immediate effects, as the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) prohibits the removal of individuals from voter rolls within 90 days of a federal election.
The SAVE database was originally created to track noncitizens, but the Trump administration has transformed its use to assist in checking voter rolls. Huseman explained that the database is not comprehensive and has significant issues, including mismatches that have been reported in states like Texas. Previously, states could only check individuals one at a time, but the new ruling allows for broader searches.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed concerns in her dissent, warning that the system might lead to the wrongful cancellation of voter registrations for some recently naturalized citizens. Huseman acknowledged that errors have occurred in the past, particularly in Texas, due to the limitations of the database and the human element involved in maintaining it.
Despite these challenges, Huseman emphasized that county election administrators are responsible for verifying flagged individuals and tend to be more cautious than federal or state authorities in ensuring eligible voters are not wrongly removed.
In a separate ruling, the Supreme Court also blocked a Trump-backed congressional map in Missouri that could have added another Republican district, just weeks before the election. Geoff Bennett is co-anchor and co-managing editor of PBS NewsHour, where he provides reporting and analysis on political and cultural issues in the United States.