The Trump administration has, for the first time ever, built a searchable national citizenship data system.

The tool, which is being rolled out in phases, is designed to be used by state and local election officials to give them an easier way to ensure only citizens are voting. But it was developed rapidly without a public process, and some of those officials are already worrying about what else it could be used for.

NPR is the first news organization to report the details of the new system.

For decades, voting officials have noted that there was no national citizenship list to compare their state lists to, so to verify citizenship for their voters, they either needed to ask people to provide a birth certificate or a passport — something that could disenfranchise millions — or use a complex patchwork of disparate data sources.

  • voracitude@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    “illegitimately” is the key word there. I’m not interested in what you think happens if everything is working as intended, or your poor reading comprehension. F-, rewrite your answer and address the question or you’ll fail the class and be held back a grade.

    • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au
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      16 hours ago

      “illegitimately” is the key word there. I’m not interested in what you think happens if everything is working as intended, or your poor reading comprehension

      Oh the irony. Database and procedural logs are automatic and extensive, that’s why I mentioned them. No amount of “illegitimate” actions would sidestep them. Go back to school.

      • voracitude@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Logs, eh? You know those are just text files, right? And how do you plan to get access to them to prove any kind of mistake or malfeasance, exactly?

        • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au
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          13 minutes ago

          Well no, they’re not just text files lol.

          You’re basically saying that everyone that can have anything to do with the database and systems around it are corrupt and working together. That’s a ridiculous conspiracy theory.