this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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The Trump administration has, for the first time ever, built a searchable national citizenship data system.

The tool, which is being rolled out in phases, is designed to be used by state and local election officials to give them an easier way to ensure only citizens are voting. But it was developed rapidly without a public process, and some of those officials are already worrying about what else it could be used for.

NPR is the first news organization to report the details of the new system.

For decades, voting officials have noted that there was no national citizenship list to compare their state lists to, so to verify citizenship for their voters, they either needed to ask people to provide a birth certificate or a passport — something that could disenfranchise millions — or use a complex patchwork of disparate data sources.

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[–] Snowies@lemmy.zip 29 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Don’t you have to register to vote?…

Illegal immigrants don’t even have social security numbers…

[–] smayonak@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago

They are promoting the disproven conspiracy theory that illegals are impersonating US citizens and then casting ballots under false names.

Greg Palast's reporting proved that they are trying to purge minority and left leaning voters from voting rolls.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 8 points 6 days ago

they want to see whos voting Dems, or independant(that isnt aligned with the gop to siphon votes from the DEMS)

[–] deathbird@mander.xyz 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I mean, you do, but... Often you just attest citizenship. Not sure if it's checked on the backend or not. And illegal immigrants often have SSNs, just not their own. That's how they can work much of the time.

Not that I expect many non-citizens are voting. The risk to reward ratio makes it really unattractive. Even citizens struggle to bother.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago

Are the illegals voting in elections in the room with us right now?

[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 84 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Is it built on top of a Palantir database?

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 43 points 1 week ago

My money's on it

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[–] Mvlad88@lemmy.world 40 points 1 week ago (44 children)

Person from outside the US here. Please explain me why this is a problem?

In the EU only citizens can vote in national elections, for local elections non-citizens can vote only if they are residents.

[–] warbond@lemmy.world 73 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I think in most cases where this administration seems to have a good idea it's important to remember that it's likely designed to keep them in power.

A national database that the trump admin controls will 100% be exploited for their own gain, just like every other aspect of government is being exploited for their gain now.

[–] rayyy@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

A national database that the trump admin controls will 100% be exploited for their own gain

You mean, weaponized.

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[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 54 points 1 week ago

You already can’t vote if you’re not a citizen. There are voter rolls and you get checked off when you go vote.

This almost certainly will be used to deport people without going through due process.

[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 45 points 1 week ago (17 children)

What happens if someone is illegitimately removed from this database? How can you show whether it was a glitch, or deliberate? How do you know if the information they have about you is even right, or get it changed if you need to? Where's the accountability?

See the UK Post Office accounting scandal, in which a persistent computer error went unfixed for decades and caused hundreds of post office employees to be fired and dragged through courts for corruption that never happened. A good chunk of them committed suicide. The government and the software company both knew about the bug causing the issue, too, but prosecutions continued. "If the computer says it, it must be right", sort of danger.

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