Why Using the Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) system to identify Non-Citizens on the Voter Roll is important.
The Social Security Administration provides a verification process through its Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) system to comply with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
When a voter registers to vote and does not have a driver’s license and does not have a state ID, a state may request a 4-digit SSN verification through HAVV.
These applicants are run through the HAVV system. Applicants whose names, Dates of Birth (DOB), and last 4-digits of their SSN match a record on the HAVV system are identified. If these applicants are associated with a single individual, they are categorized as a “single match alive” record.
These applicants can be added to the state voter roll but note that there is no citizenship verification for these applicants because HAVV does not provide the type of social security number identified in their search. The type of SSN indicates citizenship status: Types of Social Security Cards
The HAVV website publishes statistics on all people for whom social security number (SSN) screening was conducted between 2011 through the present:
SSA Open Data | HAVV Transactions by State – 2025 Totals
The latest HAVV report statistics for California, Florida, and New York are as follows :
California is way out of line with other states for the percentage of voting age persons registering to vote using a social security number. Between 2011 and 2024, California’s HAVV social security number verification transaction rate exceeded Florida’s transaction rate by over 1 million voters. California also had unexplainable spikes in HAVV transactions in 2020 and 2024.
One of the likely causes of excess HAVV transactions is that non-citizens or fictitious people are being registered to vote using a social security number.
According to public reports from DOGE there were nearly 4 million SSNs issued to non-citizens between 2021 and 2024.
Preventing the inclusion of non-citizens in the voter rolls can be done using the HAVV system.
There are four ways HAVV data can be used to identify non-citizens on the voter roll:
Method 1 For Identifying Non-Citizens on the Voter Roll Using HAVV:
DOGE or ICE could obtain or create a version of the HAVV report that includes a column for the type of SSN found. A Type 2 or type 3 SSN indicates the SSN holder is a non-citizen. An estimate of the number of non-citizens registered to vote using an SSN by state and week can be quickly determined using this customized report.
Likewise, a custom report can be generated with the name, address, birthdate, and SSN number of people found by HAVV to be “single alive matches” that are Type 2 or Type 3 SSN holders. If these non-citizens voted, they are deportable under 212(a)(10)(D). If these non-citizens registered to vote but did not vote, they are subject to felony charges for lying about citizenship on their voter registration application.
Additionally, if there is a field available in the SSN or HAVV database to indicate a Type 1 SSN was issued to a green card holder, voter registrations by green card holders can be identified.
Of course, an investigation would be required to verify the states completed the voter registration based on HAVV findings.
Method 2 For Identifying Non-Citizens on the Voter Roll Using HAVV:
An investigator could provide a list of voters registered using SSN to HAVV and request HAVV identify the type of SSN for each voter.
Method 3 For Identifying Non-Citizens on the Voter Roll Using HAVV:
President Trump could issue an executive order that instructs HAVV to include the SSN Type or citizenship status in their response to states for new applicants and to generate a custom report to each state with the list of SSN designated as “single match alive” that are classified as Type 2 or 3. The states could then compare the HAVV non-citizen report with their voter rolls and remove the non-citizens.
Method 4 For Identifying Non-Citizens on the Voter Roll Using HAVV:
The list of SSNs removed by DOGE because they were assigned to fictitious or deceased individuals should be cross referenced with the HAVV list to identify persons that should be removed from the voter roll.