Attorney General Todd Rokita and Secretary of State Diego Morales secure landmark settlement to safeguard voter rolls, identify illegal votes

Federal records confirm at least 165 non-citizens registered to vote in Indiana — 21 cast ballots

In a major victory for election integrity — made possible by the cooperation of President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice — Attorney General Todd Rokita and Secretary of State Diego Morales today announced the settlement of a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that forces the federal government to modernize citizenship verification tools and help prevent non-citizens from voting in elections nationwide.

The agreement, filed last Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, resolves lawsuits brought by Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and Iowa to compel DHS to fulfill its statutory obligation to confirm the citizenship and immigration status of individuals in response to requests by state and local governments. Because of Indiana’s leadership and persistence in bringing this lawsuit, the settlement now guarantees every state and territory in America — not just the four plaintiffs — will have access to these modernized federal verification tools for the next 20 years.

Preliminary results from the new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) verification process enshrined in the settlement confirm that at least 165 identified non-citizens have registered to vote in Indiana. Its verification data also helped confirm that at least 21 noncitizens have cast ballots in recent elections.

“From day one, many individuals dismissed our work as a ‘witch hunt’—but the facts speak for themselves: non-citizen voting is real here in our state, and even one illegal ballot undermines the trust we are told to have in our election processes and even the Republic itself,” said Attorney General Rokita. “This settlement delivers the federal access we’re entitled to under law, allowing the Secretary of State to swiftly remove ineligible voters from the rolls and fortify our system against future risks. Indiana’s elections will be more transparent, fairer and more secure as a result.”

The settlement follows Attorney General Rokita and Secretary Morales’ October 2024 request to USCIS for citizenship verification of over 585,000 Indiana voters who registered to vote without using a state-issued photo identification. After the Biden Administration failed to respond to the request, Attorney General Rokita and Secretary Morales filed suit.

“As a naturalized citizen, I deeply understand the privilege and responsibility that comes with the right to vote,” said Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales. “This landmark settlement provides Indiana with long-overdue tools to protect the integrity of our elections. Hoosiers deserve absolute confidence that every lawful vote counts and that our voter rolls are accurate and secure. I am grateful for President Trump’s leadership and his administration’s commitment to upholding election integrity.”

Under the settlement, DHS has committed to making and preserving critical upgrades to its verification system—known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program— including:

•    Free verification services for all state and local governments;
•    Integration with the Social Security Administration to allow for verification using full Social Security Numbers (SSNs) or the last four digits of SSNs as identifiers;
•    Bulk upload capabilities to process verifications efficiently, eliminating the need for one-by-one manual entries; and
•    Enhanced data outputs, including data identifying supporting documentation that confirms verification results.

These improvements will enable faster, more reliable verification and the settlement ensure USCIS will grant states and localities full use of the improved verification system.

As part of the agreement, Indiana will enter into a new Information Sharing Agreement (ISA) and updated Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with DHS within 90 days to streamline data exchange.

The new verification process will also help improve voter list maintenance, including by identifying voter registrations linked to deceased individuals. Preliminary data indicates 6,528 voter registrations linked to deceased individuals. That information will be shared with county election officials for cancellation if obituaries can be found based on Indiana Code. Analysis of the verification data provided by USCIS is ongoing.