1. United States
2. Iowa
3. Letter

Oppose FEMA’s Use of Counterterrorism Funds to Force Election Rule Changes I’m writing to urge you to oppose FEMA’s decision to withhold 20% of Homeland Security Grant Program funding — over $1 billion annually in counterterrorism money — from states that don’t comply with a new set of federal election demands. Under the new FY2026 grant notice, states must submit plans to eliminate barcode and QR-code voting equipment in favor of hand-marked paper ballots, verify the citizenship of every registered voter through the SAVE database within 120 days, and conduct manual audits of at least 5% of ballots — or lose funding that pays for cybersecurity, emergency response, and protection of public spaces. This funding has nothing to do with how ballots are marked or counted. Tying it to election procedure changes puts real counterterrorism capacity at risk in the states that rely on it most, including New York, California, and Texas. David Becker, director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, has stated publicly that these changes would harm election security, not improve it. This is also not a novel legal theory that has fared well in court. Federal courts have already struck down the administration’s prior attempts to dictate state election procedures, including an executive order seeking to federalize election administration, on the grounds that the Constitution assigns responsibility for elections to the states and Congress, not the executive branch. A similar attempt to withhold counterterrorism funds from New York City over an unrelated policy dispute was also found by a federal judge to be arbitrary and unlawful. I’m asking you to: 1. Publicly oppose FEMA’s conditioning of counterterrorism grants on unrelated election policy changes. 2. Support oversight or legislative action to ensure Homeland Security Grant Program funds are distributed based on public safety need, not compliance with the administration’s election preferences. 3. Press DHS and FEMA for a full accounting of the legal basis for this condition. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your response.