Three Stories . . . Three Minutes!

1. Feds upgrade system identifying noncitizens

2. VoterGA petitions EAC to vacate Dominion's 2019 certification . . . should MI join?

3. What the heck happened on Tuesday?

By Kristine Christlieb, MFEI News & Commentary Editor

November 6, 2025

1.  Updated Fed System Helps States Identify Noncitizens

A federal government system that identifies non-citizens on state voter rolls is getting even easier to use.

On Monday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system has been streamlined and now allows identity verification using on the last four digits of an individual’s social security number.

The agency explains: “As part of USCIS’ commitment to Executive Order 14248, Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections, this system enhancement enables registered user agencies, especially those verifying voter rolls, to create a SAVE case without needing a Department of Homeland Security identifier or complete Social Security number.”

Since President Trump’s inauguration, enhancements have been made to the SAVE system. Formerly, agencies could only submit one name at a time for verification. In May, SAVE was upgraded to accept batch uploads.

In July, the Brennan Center for Justice warned in a headline that the “’SAVE’ Program Exacerbates Risks to Voters.” The article that followed stated what might be obvious, “SAVE’s results — sometimes based on incomplete or outdated information — have never been perfect.”

Patrice Johnson, founder and chair of Michigan Fair Elections Institute, stood up for clerks, saying:

“Election clerks take their jobs very seriously. They know the SAVE system is a citizenship verification tool not a silver bullet.“

According to the USCIS press release, 26 states have, or are in the process of establishing memoranda of agreement for voter verification with SAVE. By press time, it could not be verified whether Michigan is among the 26 states using the SAVE system. [Editor’s note: We all know the likely answer to that question.]

2.  GA Inviting Other States to Join Petition to Vacate 2019 Dominion

Certification

VoterGA announced on October 30 it has joined a petition that asks the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to vacate its 2019 certification of the Dominion Democracy Suite 5.5-A voting system.

Originally put forward on October 24 by the DeKalb County (GA) Republican Party, the petition is based on unrefuted expert witness testimony showing the voting system does not meet, and never met, 2005 EAC security requirements to certify the system in 2019.

Ben Cotton, a credentialed forensics expert, and Clay Parikh, a certified voting system test lab examiner with a top secret clearance, testified the system lacks the required encryption key protection and secure password management. They testified during a September 30, 2024, hearing for a Georgia complaint known as Dekalb Co. GOP v. Raffensperger.

Parikh demonstrated in court how the system’s vulnerabilities could be exploited. He changed election results on an authenticated copy of a Georgia election management server (EMS) in a three-minute court demonstration using six lines of code.

These experts explained how Dominion Democracy Suite 5 systems store encryption keys in clear plain text in a database rather than a required encryption module. They also described how the system is delivered with a hard coded password that was never changed. Those conditions appear to be clear violations of Federal Information Processing Standards, FIPS 140-2 and FIPS 112, upon which the EAC relied for certifications. FIPS standards, dating to 1994 and 1985 respectively, were adopted by the EAC in its Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) Volume 1, which it used to certify voting systems until 2021.

VoterGA announced the original petition was amended today with clarifications. Speaking on behalf of VoterGA, Garland Favorito said he believes petitioners in other states may soon join with similar EAC petitions since the deficiencies appear to apply to all Dominion Democracy Suite 5 systems.

Favorito stressed the petition’s urgency due to forensics revealing Dominion’s “back door” remote access capabilities. Cotton testified that over 3,000 program files were modified without detection since the installation of the Georgia election server in 2019. He also explained that the server had a compiler which could enable a bad actor to make such program file modifications and distribute malware to other county equipment without detection.

3.  Tuesday’s Sweep for the Democrats and Muslims – News@Noon Experts Analyze Results

After the Democrat sweep in Tuesday’s elections, Michiganders need to understand what that will mean for the 2026 midterms. Seth Keshel, election analyst extraordinaire, will give his big picture perspective while Michigan’s own Patrick Colbeck will weigh-in with his home state analysis.

You won't want to miss it!

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