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Secretary of State: SAVE run-checks now available to Montana election offices; early runs flagged 23 potential noncitizens
Summary
Austin James told SAVA that Montana had not previously run citizenship checks against voter rolls; implementation of the federal SAVE run-checks — now offered to election officials at no charge — produced preliminary results that flagged 23 potential noncitizens for further verification. The committee requested written data and legal clarifications on the executive order’s barcode provisions and UOCAVA procedures.
Austin James, elections director in the Secretary of State’s office, briefed the SAVA committee on the implementation of the federal SAVE system and related voter-list maintenance work under SJ 35.
James said Montana historically had not run routine citizenship checks against voter rolls and that the state had requested access to the SAVE database previously. After the recent federal executive order and administrative changes, Montana election officials can use SAVE run-checks to verify whether a Social Security number or driver's license was issued to a noncitizen. James said the current implementation reduces transaction time to fractions of a second and that the Secretary of State’s office has already identified 23 potential noncitizen registrations in an initial run; many of those records showed permanent-legal-resident status and will require due-process verification before any administrative action.
James also cited a prior statutory fix (Representative Love’s bill) that closed a loophole by which provisional voters could be moved to inactive status and later become active without ever meeting eligibility standards; he said the change will prevent a repeat of that pathway.
The committee discussed UOCAVA (overseas) ballots: federal law requires transmission deadlines and offers states latitude on documentary proof requirements for overseas applicants. Panelists and staff discussed options states use — including documentary proof of citizenship for UOCAVA applicants, separating military and nonmilitary overseas voters, provisional absentee ballots when verification is pending, and restricting electronic ballot returns to voters without alternative return options owing to security concerns raised by EAC/CISA guidance.
Members asked for written summaries, the raw counts by county and return method, and a legal briefing on Section 4(b) of the executive order (barcode/QR-code guidance) and the committee added those items to the next meeting’s materials.
Ending: SOS staff will provide data and a written summary of SAVE implementation and UOCAVA returns; committee requested follow-up on barcode/QR-code executive-order sections and publicity costs tied to recent SOS mailings.
