Judge doubts Trump voter program but can’t stop it — yet

TLDR:

• A federal judge expressed serious doubts about a Trump program letting states check voter rolls against a citizenship database, but ruled she can’t shut it down yet
• Texas found only 2,724 potential noncitizens among 18 million registered voters — just 0.01% of its rolls
• The program uses a welfare benefits database that the Trump administration expanded and made free for states to use
• Activists warned of errors that could wrongly remove eligible voters, but the judge said they haven’t proven anyone was actually harmed

A federal judge on Monday said she’s “troubled” by a Trump administration program that lets states scrub noncitizens from voter lists but ruled she lacks authority to block it.

Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a Biden appointee, said she “doubts the lawfulness” of expanded access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE. The system was created to verify eligibility for welfare benefits but is now being used to check voter rolls.

The Trump administration made SAVE free for states and expanded the databases it searches. Most GOP-led states quickly signed up.

But the numbers so far suggest few noncitizens on rolls. Texas checked 18 million voters last month and found 2,724 potential noncitizens — about 0.01%.

The League of Women Voters sued, warning the database contains errors that could wrongly remove eligible voters. Ms. Sooknanan was sympathetic but said activists haven’t proven harm.

“Plaintiffs cannot point to even one naturalized citizen whose voter registration was negatively impacted,” she wrote.

She ordered the case expedited given the “serious issues at stake.”

Read more:

• Judge threatens DHS program that lets states scrub noncitizens from voter lists