The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily revived a controversial federal database that Wyoming and other states have uploaded their voter lists to, clearing the way for the Trump administration to use the information to verify voters’ citizenship ahead of November’s general election. Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray said in a statement to WyoFile, “I applaud and fully support the Supreme Court’s common sense decision upholding the use of the SAVE system.”
Known as SAVE, the Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements database was created 40 years ago with the original purpose of allowing federal, state and local government agencies to verify the immigration status of noncitizens seeking public benefits. However, in its pursuit of noncitizens on voter rolls, the Trump administration has overhauled the system. It’s done so by linking the database for the first time with Social Security Administration records and allowing state and local officials to cross-reference voter records and conduct bulk searches, some of which have mistakenly flagged U.S. citizens.
A legal dispute has since unfolded in federal court with the League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center challenging the changes to the SAVE system. The groups argue that outdated records in the now-expanded database risk disenfranchising eligible voters, particularly newly naturalized citizens. Siding with the Trump administration Friday, the court’s majority wrote that a lower court order halting the modified database “inhibits the Federal Government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections.”
For Wyoming’s part, Gray entered a memorandum of agreement in July 2025 with the federal government to upload the state’s voter lists to SAVE, according to public records. “This will help to ensure that only citizens are on the voter registration list,” Gray said in a press release announcing the agreement.
Around that same time period, Gray complied with a request to give the driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers of every registered Wyoming voter to the Department of Justice. Gray declined Wyo, agreeing instead to respond to written questions. In his response, Gray pointed to a 2025 state law that, among other things, authorizes the secretary of state to utilize SAVE to verify that voters listed in the Wyoming voter registration system are U.S. citizens. “As called for in Wyoming law, our office utilized the SAVE system to refer potential non-citizens to both county and federal law enforcement,” Gray wrote. “We have also used the SAVE system to refer potential non-citizens to county clerks.” County clerks manage elections on the local level.
Moving forward, Gray said his office will continue to work with the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office “to ensure the law is followed.” Gray did not address a question asking how many voters have been flagged using the SAVE system since the 2024 election and how many were removed from Wyoming’s voter rolls. Previous statements from his office suggest at least four voters were flagged using SAVE. In a November press release, Gray announced three voters had been removed from the state’s voter rolls after they were flagged using the SAVE system. An additional voter was flagged in Johnson County in March, according to a press release.
