AUGUSTA, MAINE – In a letter to Roman Jankowski, Chief Privacy Officer for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows joined 11 other Secretaries of State from across the country in objecting to DHS’s current approach to the expansion of SAVE for voter eligibility determinations. The comments were submitted in response to the DHS proposal to modify and reissue the DHS system of records notice (SORN) titled “Department of Homeland Security/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)-004 Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program (SAVE).”
Secretary Bellows today issued the following statement:
“Americans should be proud of our free, safe and secure elections administered by the states under the Constitution. These proposed changes would do nothing safeguard election integrity, but by creating a vast federal database of millions of American voters would in fact threaten the privacy and security of voter information nationwide.
The states, not the federal government, are in charge of elections under the Constitution to preserve checks and balances in our democracy. This is yet another attempt by the Trump Administration to upset that balance of power, subjecting lawful American voters to further review and potential disenfranchisement based on lies about the security of our elections.”
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