Nevada declines federal SAVE program to verify voter citizenship

Nevada voters will not have their citizenship status checked by the federal government's new verification system. Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar confirmed on Tuesday that the state will not join the program known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE. This decision stands despite a direct request from the Trump administration for the state to participate.

The federal program allows state agencies to upload voter registration records to a database to check for noncitizen status. The administration sent a letter to Aguilar's office on Monday, stating that the tool provides an efficient way to verify citizenship or immigration status. Nevada is one of several states opting out of the voluntary process.

Aguilar cited accuracy concerns in a text message sent Tuesday. He said the state remains uninterested in using the tool because it has "too many false positives." Errors in the system have been documented in other states. In Missouri, the tool mistakenly identified hundreds of American voters as noncitizens. In Texas, at least 87 errors were found across 29 counties, according to reporting from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.

The legal landscape for the program shifted recently. A federal judge in June blocked the revamped system, ruling that it violated Americans' privacy rights. An appeals court agreed with that ruling. However, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned those lower court decisions last month, clearing the way for states to use the database.

The program was originally designed to help federal agencies prevent noncitizens from receiving government benefits. The current administration has modified the system to allow election officials to search records by the last four digits of a Social Security number. States can now use the database at no cost. Agencies in more than half of the states are currently participating in the program.

Nevada law already requires voters to affirm their citizenship when they register. Noncitizen voting is illegal under both state and federal law. The Trump administration previously alleged that more than 15,000 noncitizens were on Nevada's voter rolls. About a month after that claim, the administration said it had identified approximately 185 potential noncitizens. State officials later reviewed those records and determined that all the individuals were likely citizens.

Federal prosecutors in Nevada charged a Southern Nevada woman last week with illegally voting in the 2024 election. This case is separate from the SAVE program but occurs as the state decides how to handle voter verification data.