A coalition of mostly Democratic-led states asked a federal judge to block the Department of Homeland Security from withholding certain disaster-related funds until states adopt election administration practices favored by the Trump administration.
States Administer Elections
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Rhode Island by 25 states and the District of Columbia, marks the latest legal battle over voting procedures ahead of November’s midterm elections. The states argue that the administration’s plans to condition the funds on election changes exceeded the federal government’s authority, as the U.S. Constitution assigns states the role of administering federal elections.
The Trump administration announced the restrictions on more than $1 billion in grant money, calling the changes it was seeking “common-sense steps to protect U.S. elections.” The administration said states would have to manually audit at least 5% of ballots cast, reconcile the number of voters who participated in each federal election with the number of votes cast, and compare their voter rolls to a DHS database to make sure no non-U.S. citizens were improperly registered to vote.
The states said they were allocated more than $740 million in the 2026 fiscal year, meaning DHS would withhold at least $148 million under the disputed policy. The grant programs have existed for years, and none of them were designed with election security specifically in mind, the lawsuit said.
Election Security Concerns
Trump and his allies have made claims about widespread voting fraud in U.S. elections, including the 2020 presidential election that he lost. Democrats and voting rights advocates say Trump is seeking to undermine public confidence in election administration and lay the groundwork for challenging the results of the midterms should Republicans lose control of either the House of Representatives or the Senate.
Independent studies and audits have found voter fraud to be rare. A Reuters analysis of federal court data found that many criminal cases involving non-U.S. citizen voting have stemmed from voter confusion, miscommunication with election officials, or administrative errors.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
