US top court allows Trump to use controversial voter verification system

Voting rights groups have warned system may falsely identify voters as non-citizens, leading to disenfranchisement.

Poll workers stand outside despite rainy weather on the first day of early voting in Minneapolis, Minnesota [Ellen Schmidt/The Associated Press]

The United States Supreme Court has allowed the administration of US President Donald Trump to use a controversial voter verification system just weeks away from the midterm election in November.

The court’s emergency order on Friday allows the Department of Homeland Security to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, programme in its efforts to verify the eligibility of voters on state voter rolls.

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Voting rights groups have argued the use of the system, which was revamped under the Trump administration in 2025, risks falsely identifying individuals as non-voters, potentially leading to individuals being wrongfully purged from voter rolls.

Those challenging the administration’s use of the database have charged that information on citizenship can be out of date. They pointed to a Travis County, Texas election official who found that up to 25 percent of the “non-citizens” identified by the system in the jurisdiction were in fact US citizens.

US states oversee election administration under the country’s constitution and are not required to use the SAVE system, but several Republican-led state governments have voluntarily opted to use the database.

Still, it was not immediately clear if Friday’s decision would have any meaningful impact on the midterm elections on November 3, in which voters will determine which parties control the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

Existing law blocks most states from systematically purging voters from their rolls within 90 days of an election. The emergency order is not also the final say on the matter, only granting the administration the ability to use the system until the court makes a final ruling.

The three liberal justices on the panel, which has a 6-3 conservative supermajority, issued a dissenting opinion, saying the majority disregarded “the harms that the modified SAVE system has caused, and will likely continue to cause, to lawful voters”.

The Citizens for Ethics watchdog group charged that the decision “puts millions of Americans at risk of being unlawfully targeted by the admin’s unreliable voter purge system weeks before the midterms”.

Trump has focused heavily on election administration in the run-up to the midterm vote, which could serve as a major check on his authority in the final two years of his term.

He has for years claimed, without evidence, that US elections are marred by widespread fraud and has repeatedly falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, was “stolen”.

Evidence has suggested that fraud of any kind, including instances of non-citizens voting in the US, has been glancingly rare in the country.

In September, the Supreme Court rejected a bid from Trump to restrict mail ballot procedures before the midterm election.

投票权组织警告称，该系统可能错误地将选民识别为非公民，导致其被剥夺选举权。

在明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市提前投票的第一天，尽管下着雨，投票站工作人员仍然站在外面。[艾伦·施密特/美联社]

美国最高法院允许美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的政府在距离11月中期选举仅几周时间之际，使用一项备受争议的选民核实系统。

法院周五发布的紧急命令允许国土安全部使用“系统性外国人资格核查”（SAVE）计划来核实州选民名册上的选民资格。

问题 1/3：为什么美国选举官员在中期选举前要为混乱局面做准备？

民调显示，美国选民反对对伊朗开战的呼声再创新高，这是三项民调中的第二项。

列表 3/3：弗吉尼亚州将于 2026 年美国中期选举中开始提前现场投票。

投票权组织认为，该系统在特朗普政府于 2025 年进行了改革，但其使用存在将个人错误地认定为非选民的风险，这可能导致个人被错误地从选民名册中清除。

质疑政府使用该数据库的人士指出，其中的公民身份信息可能已过时。他们援引德克萨斯州特拉维斯县一位选举官员的案例，该官员发现，在该辖区内，系统识别出的“非公民”中，多达25%实际上是美国公民。

根据美国宪法，美国各州负责监督选举管理，并没有义务使用 SAVE 系统，但一些共和党领导的州政府自愿选择使用该数据库。

不过，目前还不清楚周五的决定是否会对 11 月 3 日的中期选举产生任何实质性影响，届时选民将决定哪些政党控制美国众议院和参议院。

现行法律禁止大多数州在选举前90天内系统性地清除选民名册上的选民。这项紧急命令也并非最终裁决，它只是授权政府在法院作出最终裁决前使用该系统。

该小组由 6 比 3 的保守派大法官组成，其中三名自由派大法官发表了反对意见，称多数派无视“修改后的 SAVE 系统已经对合法选民造成并可能继续造成的伤害”。

公民道德监督组织指责该决定“使数百万美国人面临在期中选举前几周被政府不可靠的选民清洗系统非法针对的风险”。

在即将到来的中期选举中，特朗普将大量精力放在了选举管理上，这可能会在他任期的最后两年对他的权力起到重要的制约作用。

多年来，他一直毫无证据地声称美国选举存在广泛的舞弊行为，并多次错误地声称他在 2020 年总统选举中输给了民主党人乔·拜登，而那次选举是“被窃取的”。

有证据表明，在美国，任何形式的舞弊行为，包括非公民投票的情况，都极为罕见。

9 月，最高法院驳回了特朗普在中期选举前限制邮寄投票程序的请求。