The Wisconsin Elections Commission has approved guidance prohibiting the state’s roughly 1,850 municipal clerks from using the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to determine whether registered voters are U.S. citizens.
The bipartisan commission voted unanimously Thursday to adopt a memo and accompanying FAQ document for local election officials. The guidance states that Wisconsin law bars election officials from disclosing voters’ personally identifiable information, including dates of birth and Social Security numbers, making it “impossible for election officials to use SAVE as it is currently constructed.
The decision follows a Sept. 25 U.S. Supreme Court order that lifted a lower-court injunction and allowed states to use a modified version of the Department of Homeland Security database. That expanded system, developed after a March 2025 executive order, enables bulk checks and incorporates Social Security Administration data for citizenship verification.
Commission Chair Don Millis, a Republican, previously informed legislative leaders that state law would need to be changed before clerks or commission staff could use SAVE for citizenship checks or related list maintenance. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have begun accessing the system.
Wisconsin law requires voter registration applicants to attest under penalty of law that they are U.S. citizens. False claims are a felony. The state also cross-checks voter records against Department of Transportation, Department of Corrections and other state data for eligibility issues such as felony status or death. Officials identify noncitizen registrants through challenges or law-enforcement notifications rather than systematic federal database queries.
Republican Commissioner Robert Spindell supported the guidance but expressed frustration that the commission has not cooperated more with federal agencies on voter data. He said noncitizen voting, even in small percentages, could affect close races, though available reports show such cases remain rare in Wisconsin.
The guidance comes less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 election. In-person absentee voting begins Tuesday.
