The midterms are going to be a data security nightmare

One messy database is threatening to disenfranchise thousands or even millions of registered voters, while leaving even more at risk of intimidation or data breaches, in the name of solving a problem that barely exists. As the 2026 midterm elections approach, election and privacy experts are sounding alarms about the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program, which President Donald Trump’s administration has expanded to ostensibly catch noncitizens voting. Experts say that amounts to a dangerous, error-prone effort to centralize voter data. “The federal government doesn’t have the authority to do any of that and doesn’t have the expertise either,” says Eileen O’Connor, senior counsel at the Brennan Center. “Inserting themselves into the day-to-day functioning of state elections is unprecedented and disturbing.” The SAVE program, created in 1987 to verify public benefit eligibility, queries federal databases to determine residents’ immigration status. Last year , Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) began demanding nearly every state provide complete voter information to cross-reference against the program, then purge any voters the agency deems ineligible within 45 days. These state rolls can include reams of sensitive information, including social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and in some cases, voter participation history. …