Washington, DC: The US Supreme Court on September 25 allowed state and local election officials to use a revamped immigration database to verify voter registration records, handing the Trump administration a victory in its effort to increase federal involvement in the upcoming midterm elections.
In an unsigned ruling, the court’s majority said the database was likely lawful and argued that a lower court order was stopping the federal government from using the system it considered most appropriate for checking voter information.
The court’s three liberal justices dissented. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that “the harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm that the Government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take.”
The ruling’s impact on the midterm elections is limited because federal law prevents election officials from conducting large-scale voter roll purges this close to an election.
The database can therefore be used for individual voter checks.
The decision comes after the court on September 15 rejected the administration’s effort to tighten rules on mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections.
