Santa Fe County Clerk Clark: Supreme Court SAVE Decision Does Not Change New Mexico Voters’ Registration Status
Santa Fe, NM — Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine E. Clark issued the following statement Friday following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing the federal government to continue operating its expanded Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system while litigation continues.
“I want New Mexico voters to understand what today’s Supreme Court decision does – and what it does not do.
“The decision allows the federal government to continue operating the expanded SAVE database while the underlying litigation proceeds. It does not cancel anyone’s voter registration, declare anyone ineligible to vote, or require New Mexico to participate in SAVE.
“Most importantly for voters right now, we are already within the federal 90-day blackout period restricting systematic voter-list maintenance before a federal election. Santa Fe County will not be uploading voter data to SAVE during this election.
“Participation in SAVE remains a choice for states. Today’s ruling allows the federal government to make the system available; it does not require states to use it.
“I strongly support modernizing voter registration and giving local election officials better tools to keep our voter rolls accurate. I have carried and passed resolutions at the National Association of Counties supporting election modernization and better data tools for local election officials so we can identify and investigate potential discrepancies fairly and accurately.
“But this version of SAVE has been problematic. No government database is perfect, and the rapid development and deployment of this system has produced significant concerns about errors and false positives. A database result should provide election officials with information to investigate and verify — it should not, by itself, determine a voter’s eligibility.
“Election integrity requires accuracy in both directions: identifying records that legitimately need attention while protecting eligible voters from being removed because of incomplete, outdated or incorrect government data.
“We can modernize voter registration, improve the information available to election officials, and protect eligible voters at the same time. Those goals are not in conflict.
But we remain opposed to forced use of SAVE and to any suggestion that SAVE data, standing alone, should be used to remove voters from the rolls.
“For Santa Fe County voters, the message today is straightforward: this Supreme Court decision has not changed your registration or your eligibility to vote. New Mexico has not been ordered to use SAVE, and Santa Fe County will not be conducting systematic voter removals during the federal blackout period.”
BACKGROUND
The expanded SAVE system combines federal citizenship and immigration information with additional federal records, including Social Security Administration data, to provide state and local officials with additional citizenship-verification tools.
A federal district court previously restricted the expanded system. The Supreme Court’s September 25 emergency decision allows the federal government to operate the expanded system while litigation continues. The Court’s action is not a final decision resolving the underlying legal challenges to the program.
The ruling does not require states to participate in SAVE and does not itself remove any voter from a state voter-registration roll.
Federal law also generally prohibits states from conducting programs whose purpose is to systematically remove ineligible voters from registration rolls during the 90 days preceding a federal primary or general election. The 2026 General Election is already within that period. For important dates and information regarding the 2026 General Election, visit SantaFe.Vote/2026General.