Judge Blocks Voter Database

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Washington ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully overhauled the SAVE immigration database into a voter-screening tool that consolidated Social Security numbers, citizenship status and other private information on millions of Americans. The judge blocked the system’s use in its current form, finding that federal officials violated privacy protections and supplied states with data she described as inaccurate and “haphazard,” creating a risk that eligible U.S. citizens could be wrongly flagged as noncitizens and purged from voter rolls. The decision deals a setback to President Donald Trump’s broader push to expand the federal government’s role in policing voter eligibility ahead of elections. Voting rights groups and nonprofits challenged the program after several states used or sought to use the revamped database to check voter lists.