LINCOLN – Secretary of State Bob Evnen traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to join other secretaries of state for a meeting hosted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the White House. The meeting, held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, pertained to the logistical details for making federal databases available to states for use in maintaining voter registration lists.
President Trump’s March Executive Order aimed at preserving and protecting the integrity of American elections called on federal agencies, most notably the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA), to allow state and local election officials access to federal databases to more efficiently and effectively maintain their voter registration lists.
“It is remarkable what has been accomplished by the Department of Homeland Security and USCIS to make these systems available to states and to optimize them for the purposes of verifying citizenship status,” said Secretary of State Bob Evnen. “While there are further considerations to be worked out before they are ready for use, I assure Nebraska voters that these databases will further improve the efficiency of our election processes, and that we will use them prudently, ensuring that no lawfully registered voters are disenfranchised.”
The SAVE program, maintained by DHS, could be an additional tool to help officials verify the citizenship of those registering to vote. Access to the SAVE program was requested in a joint letter signed by several secretaries of state, including Evnen, in early March.
The SSA Death Master File would allow Nebraska election officials to identify those who are registered to vote in Nebraska but who pass away outside the state. Nebraska election officials currently use death data sourced from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Vital Records and obituary records to identify when a voter has passed away.
Secretary Evnen said he was optimistic that these systems will be available and ready for use by state officials in the near future.
