Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales, center, meets with Scott County leaders in February 2025. (Photo from Morales’ official X account)
Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales has joined 20 others in asking new Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for changes to a federal citizenship verification service — including that it be free to use.
“I am joining my colleagues in requesting that the Department of Homeland Security take swift action to make the … program more efficient and accessible to states,” Morales said in a Thursday news release. He is Indiana’s top elections official.
“Hoosiers deserve to trust in the election process, and that starts with ensuring that non-citizens are not allowed to vote. Only U.S. Citizens can vote in Indiana. Period,” Morales continued.
The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) initiative lets registered government agencies verify immigration and citizenship status for people seeking public benefits or licenses, according to administrator U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It’s a component of Noem’s agency.
Morales and other elections officials indicated they use SAVE to detect when noncitizens try to register to vote or cast a ballot.
Indiana officials ask federal government to verify citizenship of 585K registered voters
“As President (Donald) Trump has explicitly conveyed, ensuring noncitizens do not vote in our elections is crucial to protecting the integrity of elections in our respective states,” their Feb. 27 letter reads. “However, to vigorously and successfully assume this charge, improvements addressing current limitations within the program are vital.”
Recent voter roll audits show attempts by noncitizens to vote are rare, ABC News reported.
Morales and his Republican counterparts asked Noel for five changes, including that SAVE allow them to look up multiple people at once instead of the current, time-consuming one-at-a-time approach.
They also requested that the system work with identifiers common in election work, like dates of birth, Social Security Numbers and driver’s license numbers. SAVE uses Alien Registration Numbers and other identifiers prominent in immigration enforcement.
And they said SAVE should be free. The program currently has a user fee and per-search charges.
“Considering election officials are utilizing this system to ensure noncitizens are not actively voting in state and federal elections, there should be no cost to election officials using federal resources to protect the integrity of said elections,” the secretaries of state wrote.
They also asked for guidance on how and when to use SAVE — amid “conflicting” court orders — and for the names of naturalization applicants who say they’ve registered to vote or cast a ballot.
Morales previously joined Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita to request federal citizenship verification of nearly 600,000 Indiana voters, but faced pushback.
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