U.S. Court Blocks Trump's 'Voter Verification Database,' Citing Threat to 'Sacred Right'

A U.S. court has put a brake on the SAVE system, a federal database revamped by the Trump administration to verify voter eligibility.

According to reports from ABC News and the Associated Press, Judge Sparkle Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court ruled on June 22 (local time) that the recently overhauled SAVE system violated privacy laws and the Administrative Procedure Act by centrally collecting and utilizing sensitive personal information of U.S. citizens.

SAVE is a database under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) originally used by federal and state governments to verify the citizenship or immigration status of applicants for welfare benefits or administrative services.

In March, President Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to use this system to compile a "state citizenship list" and instructing the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to deliver mail-in ballots only to those registered on official state voter rolls.

However, civic groups, including the League of Women Voters, filed a lawsuit, arguing that the federal government improperly integrated and shared the personal information of millions of people during this process.

In the ruling, Judge Sooknanan stated, "(Since the executive order,) state governments have been working with the federal government to access the database and are actively removing U.S. citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information."

She added, "Ultimately, the federal government has intentionally trampled on the privacy rights of U.S. citizens in a way that threatens the sacred right to vote," and declared, "The court cannot stand idly by."

The judge also ruled that "officials from various government agencies haphazardly combined and repurposed the personal information of millions of Americans, including citizenship data."

This ruling comes as President Trump has consistently raised the possibility of election fraud since his return to office and has pushed for the establishment of a voter verification system.

The Trump administration has attempted to implement measures such as mandatory proof of citizenship for voter registration and restrictions on mail-in voting, but many of these efforts have been blocked by the courts.

The Department of Justice stated in a release that it "will continue to vigorously defend President Trump's immigration enforcement policies and the use of the SAVE system for citizenship verification."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.