On the recordJune 7, 2012
I think we can all agree that the integrity of our elections is of fundamental importance to our democracy. We need to ensure that everyone who is eligible to vote has the ability to vote, and those that are ineligible to vote are stopped from voting in our elections. We also have the responsibility to ensure that this responsibility falls largely on the States to ensure that voters have the right to vote that are eligible to. They do this by making sure that their voter rolls are clean, that their voter rolls are accurate. It's important that States have the ability to do that. In my own State of Florida and others throughout this country, the Federal Government is being asked to help. {time} 1030 The Department of Homeland Security, in particular, has been unwilling to help those States that are asking for it. Mr. Speaker, DHS is denying Florida the process to access what is called the Systematic Alienation Verification Entitlement database, or SAVE, as it's commonly referred to. SAVE undoubtedly is the best database for the States to use to cross-reference and cross-check their voter rolls for eligible or ineligible voters. DHS is denying us access to this database, despite its own documents and regulations clearly stating that SAVE, for voter registration purposes, is one of the permissible uses. This is within their own documents as it relates to the operation of DHS.…
