LaRose secures federal data-sharing deal to stop noncitizen voting
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has announced that Ohio has formalized a historic, long-term agreement with the United States government to ensure unprecedented access to citizenship and other federal records for use in verifying voter registration eligibility. This is the final outcome of months-long litigation filed by the state of Ohio against the Department of Homeland Security under the Biden administration.
The agreement reached between Ohio and the federal government will guarantee the state has access to the improved Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) System for the next 20 years.
“Ohio has a duty to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote, and this agreement gives us the tools to do that job right. I appreciate the Trump administration for working with us to deliver long-term access to the federal data needed to protect election integrity.”
Background:
This historic agreement guarantees that Ohio will have enhanced, long-term access to federal records for use in verifying voter registrations and voting eligibility for a period of at least two decades. It ensures that Ohio will have free access to the SAVE database, the capability to obtain verifiable data supporting each citizen verification, and the ability to perform bulk verification requests.
Beginning in 2024, Secretary LaRose requested that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provide increased access to federal databases and search tools to ensure that Ohio could verify the citizenship of registered voters.
The Secretary’s office made four requests over the course of several months, which were ultimately denied by the Biden administration. The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security only responded after Ohio Congressman and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to then-Secretary Mayorkas asking why DHS would not respond to Ohio’s requests. In October 2024, Secretary LaRose sued the Biden DHS and Secretary Mayorkas, seeking access to the databases under federal law.
The agreement was filed in federal court last week. Upon court approval, it will bring this litigation to an end.
Ohio has taken substantial actions in recent years to fortify and expand its voter list maintenance protocols, particularly aimed at enforcing a new state constitutional citizenship voting requirement.
Senate Bill 293, passed this year, codifies the Ohio Secretary of State’s current practice of reviewing the Statewide Voter Registration Database, on a monthly basis, by consulting the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) database and the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.