Highlights
- Maricopa County has used the expanded federal SAVE database to review voter rolls since August 2025, but access has been unavailable since June 23.
- A Biden-appointed D.C. judge ruled the expanded database violates privacy rights; a Trump-appointed Florida judge ordered DHS to restore access to four Republican-led states, not including Arizona.
- The Trump administration has appealed the D.C. ruling; the appeals court has not yet heard arguments.
- Arizona election officials have relied on SAVE since voters approved a proof-of-citizenship requirement in 2004, but the original system could only verify voters born outside the United States.
Maricopa County's ability to verify voter citizenship against a federal database remains suspended, caught between two contradictory federal court orders with no resolution in sight, Cronkite News reported Wednesday.
The county began using the expanded Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database in August 2025 to review its voter rolls. The system has been unavailable since June 23, when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced what it described as optimization updates to the web browser experience. The agency has not publicly acknowledged shutting down the system or removing data.
The access disruption follows a June 22 ruling by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Washington, who found that federal agencies had improperly combined personal information of millions of Americans and relied on citizenship data they knew could be inaccurate. Sooknanan affirmed that ruling Wednesday.
A day earlier, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell in Florida ordered the Department of Homeland Security to restore access to four Republican-led states: Florida, Ohio, Iowa and Indiana. Arizona was not among them. Wetherell acknowledged the bind his order created, writing in his ruling that the court understands the defendants are subject to two contradictory orders.
The SAVE database was created in 1986 to verify immigration status and eligibility for government benefits. Arizona election officials began using it after voters approved a proof-of-citizenship requirement in 2004. The original system could only flag voters born outside the United States, and required an alien registration number or naturalization certificate number to do so. The Trump administration expanded the database in March 2025, adding Social Security records and a bulk-search option. That expansion was carried out by the Department of Government Efficiency.
The Trump administration has appealed Sooknanan's order to the D.C. Circuit. The appeals court has not yet heard arguments, per Cronkite News reporter Katie O'Shaughnessy, whose reporting was corroborated by the New York Times and Democracy Docket.
For Scottsdale and Paradise Valley property owners and business operators with employees registered to vote in Maricopa County, the practical effect is that the county's voter-roll review process is stalled pending appellate resolution. The D.C. Circuit has not scheduled oral arguments.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- Cronkite News retrieved 09/07/2026 20:05
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 09/07/2026 20:05. Every claim traces to a source.
