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HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Secretary of State’s Office has received preliminary results from its recent implementation of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to help ensure clean, accurate voter rolls in the Treasure State.
For the first time ever, last week, Montana election officials were able to begin the process of verifying the citizenship of registered voters. Already, the federal government’s SAVE tool flagged 23 voter records as potential non-citizens, most of which appear to have permanent alien status and no record of citizenship. Several of the flagged individuals had voter histories indicating participation in dozens of previous Montana elections.
It’s illegal for a non-citizen to register and vote in Montana elections.
“Previous administrations ignored our requests for citizenship verification, while the Trump Administration has now provided this already existing tool to election officials free of charge,” said Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen. “I’m committed to ensuring that Montana has accurate voter rolls and that Montana elections are decided only by eligible U.S. citizens.”
Following November’s local election cycle, Montana media published an article highlighting how often elections result in close races and even ties. According to national research on elections, thousands of contests have ended in ties or have been decided by just a single vote.
“It’s simple, nonpartisan, and nondebatable – only eligible U.S. citizens should vote in Montana elections,” said Secretary Jacobsen.