Senators Slam Trump’s Illegal Voter Purge Order, Demand Agencies Stop Disenfranchisement

Oregon Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined a powerful coalition of more than 24 Senate Democrats in condemning President Trump’s March 31 Executive Order that attempts to use inaccurate federal databases to remove eligible U.S. voters from election rolls. The group’s letters to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano demand these agencies uphold existing federal law and reject the administration’s unconstitutional directive.

The Executive Order mandates DHS to compile voter eligibility lists using data from the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, which relies heavily on SSA information. Yet DHS itself has acknowledged that SAVE’s citizenship data is often outdated or incorrect. Election officials and voter advocacy groups have already reported cases of eligible Americans being wrongly flagged as non-citizens and removed from voter rolls. The senators warn that if implemented, the order will disenfranchise tens of thousands of lawful voters on Election Day.

In their letter to DHS, the senators emphasize that the SAVE program’s expanded role in voter roll maintenance is “illegal and non-statutory,” urging immediate cessation of its use for these purposes. They highlight the constitutional violations inherent in federal interference with state-managed elections, noting the risk of undermining fundamental voting rights.

The letter to SSA points out that the agency’s data is central to the flawed SAVE program and cautions that recent Department of the Office of Government Ethics (DOGE) activities have further compromised public data security. Given SSA’s unreliability as a citizenship source, the senators demand the agency halt all data sharing under the Executive Order to prevent wrongful voter suppression.

This pushback against Trump’s voter roll purges follows earlier Democratic demands that the United States Postal Service resist the administration’s attempts to politicize mail-in voting through a separate Executive Order. Together, these efforts reveal a coordinated assault on voting access disguised as election integrity measures.

The letters were spearheaded by key Senate Democrats including Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Gary Peters, Senate Rules Committee Ranking Member Alex Padilla, Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Merkley and Wyden’s leadership underscores the urgent need to protect democracy from the Trump administration’s authoritarian tactics.

Read the full letters to DHS Secretary Mullin and SSA Commissioner Bisignano here.