The United States Supreme Court issued an unsigned order on Tuesday clearing the way for states to use a federal system to identify and remove individuals from voter registration lists, coming less than six weeks before the upcoming midterm elections.
The decision permits election officials to access a data tool developed jointly by the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, and other federal agencies. The program is designed to cross-reference state voter registries with federal records to flag individuals who may no longer meet eligibility criteria.
The emergency ruling drew immediate criticism from voting rights advocates, including the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), which warned that applying the measure so close to an election could improperly strip legal voters of their registration status.
“The tool allowed by SCOTUS will not have a meaningful impact on removing ineligible voters from rolls—which is not, in fact, a significant problem—but it could have a devastating impact on removing voters who are indeed eligible to vote,” said Jacqueline De León, a senior staff attorney at NARF. “At the very least, it will sow confusion among voters nationwide, which may be part of its intended purpose.”
Advocacy groups raised concerns about the timing and accuracy of the databases, particularly for marginalized populations. De León pointed out that Indigenous communities already face structural hurdles under state election guidelines, such as strict ID laws that exclude tribal identification cards and non-standard residential addresses on reservation lands.
“Many of these problems are rooted in systemic racism that has resulted in a lack of funding for adequate voting systems throughout Indian Country,” De León added, stating that the organization plans to track how the policy affects ballot access across tribal lands.
“The Native vote is powerful. Legally registered voters must be allowed to cast their ballot and have that ballot counted,” De León said. “We will fight any effort, state, or national, to disenfranchise the first people of this land.”
The Supreme Court did not provide a detailed opinion alongside its order, a standard practice on its emergency docket. The ruling takes effect immediately across states seeking to use the federal data match before voting gets underway.