Click to expand Image US election workers open and inspect mail-in ballot envelopes during processing inside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) on Election Day, November 5, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. © 2024 Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images (Washington, DC) – US states’ use of a tool to verify citizenship that is marred by inaccurate and incomplete data is creating new hurdles for the right to vote with the midterm elections only days away, Human Rights Watch said today. The Supreme Court ruled in late September 2026 that states could use the tool, Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), to screen lists of registered voters for citizenship status, at least for the time being.“The use of the SAVE tool is causing new hurdles for some voters,” said Katherine La Puente, US democracy researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Sending vaguely worded letters as early voting began or offering federal-only ballots to some registered voters risks a discriminatory impact on people’s right to vote.”The Trump administration expanded use of the problematic SAVE online system, which previously had been used only for public benefits and was not designed for verifying voter eligibility, in 2025 to now use it for these purposes. Some states have adopted their use of SAVE to verify voter eligibility, and the recent Supreme Court ruling has allowed its use for individualized inquiries. Federal law does not require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, but states have passed these laws requiring proof for state and local races, resulting in bifurcated voter systems.In Utah, thousands of voters flagged by the SAVE database were sent notification letters over the summer, and in October over 4,000 who didn’t respond were mailed ballots with only federal races.In South Dakota, nearly 6,000 voters have been categorized as federal-only voters as well as 47,000 in Arizona. In Utah and Arizona, they can provide proof of citizenship and vote in person on Election Day but can’t vote by mail, a method relied on by most voters.In North Carolina, vaguely worded letters sent to 1,400 registered voters flagged through SAVE asking for proof of citizenship may deter people from going to the polls. Earlier in 2026, Utah audited its voter rolls, finding that it could not verify the citizenship status of over 5,000 registered voters. It sent them letters indicating that they needed to provide documentary proof of citizenship. Many were older voters who did not need documentation when they registered to vote. Fewer than 2,000 have responded. The others will receive ballots only for federal offices.In South Dakota, new state laws requiring documentary proof of citizenship and residential addresses quadrupled the voters in the “federal-only” category because they did not submit proof of citizenship or list a mail forwarding service or P.O. Box as their address when they registered. County clerks sent notification letters to these voters that misstated the reasons for their change in status. After advocates filed a federal lawsuit against the state, officials issued corrected notices in September. South Dakota’s online Voter Information Portal does not tell voters if they are registered as federal-only and changes were only allowed until the state’s October 19 registration deadline. The North Carolina State Board of Elections sent letters to nearly 1,400 registered voters flagged through SAVE just two days before early voting began on October 15. The board of elections has since confirmed that all citizens are still entitled to vote even as it resolves these queries, and voting rights groups are emphasizing that all those flagged should still be able to vote. But people who got the letters may think they cannot vote or may run into issues at the polls.In July, with less than a month to the August primary, the director of Alaska’s Division of Elections admitted in a legislative hearing that her office had mailed letters to more than 3,000 voters asking to confirm their citizenship and marked them inactive. Though hundreds have had their registration restored, others will only be able to vote with a questioned ballot, which is only counted once the voter’s eligibility is verified.Earlier in 2026, a new law took effect in Ohio that requires the Office of the Secretary of State to review its voter registration database at least monthly and direct elections officials to promptly cancel a flagged person’s registration. Citizen groups have raised concerns that this could lead to mistaken removals close to elections, with 75 people removed in September and 90 in October. In Arizona, the Maricopa County recorder flagged 207 voters identified through SAVE as “not eligible” to vote, which means the voters would stay on the rolls, but would not receive mail-in ballots and would need to use a provisional ballot. Of an initial investigation of 60 of these voters, the Maricopa County attorney determined at least 52 were citizens. But the county did not restore some people’s eligibility until the state attorney general filed suit and a resolution was negotiated. Arizona has required proof of citizenship to register to vote in state and local elections since 2004. Clean Elections Arizona estimates that 47,000 voters are now in this federal-only category. Naturalized citizens, people who automatically became citizens during childhood when their parents naturalized, US citizens born abroad, and those without easy access to documentation are particularly at risk as a result of these moves. Often, individuals who secured their citizenship through a parent’s naturalization or at birth abroad may not have access to the original documents confirming their status, which they obtained as children.The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the United States has ratified, requires governments to ensure the right to vote without unreasonable restrictions or discrimination. The International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination requires the United States to eliminate racial discrimination and to guarantee the right to vote “without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin.” In its concluding observations for its review of the United States in 2022, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern about practices that “constrain the exercise of the right to vote with a disproportionate impact on people of African descent, indigenous peoples, persons of Hispanic/Latino origin and other ethnic minorities,” and said that the United States should “facilitate access to voting and eliminate unreasonable restrictions to the exercise of the right to vote.”A survey by the Brennan Center found that more than 9 percent of those polled did not have proof of citizenship readily available, which would mean 21.3 million people nationally if the results are accurate. A study by the Center for American Progress found that fewer than half of US citizens held a valid US passport in 2024. Communities of color, immigrants, low-income, and older people are less likely to have identity documents such as passports or birth certificates. There is no evidence of widespread, unlawful voting by noncitizens in US elections, and such claims have been disproven in other states like Nevada and Missouri. Nationwide, CBS News reported, 156 people had been charged with offenses related to voter fraud since January 2025, out of approximately 227 million registered voters.Other statements and actions made by the Trump administration leading up to the elections could deter people from voting. In several states, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents have questioned people in their homes about their immigration status and voting history, though a judge recently restricted these operations in nine states. Neither President Donald Trump nor the heads of the DHS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been willing to rule out the possibility that federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, may be at polling places.“Election officials should take steps to eliminate hurdles to vote and ensure that voters feel confident to go to the polls,” La Puente said.