Stop Use of Emergency Preparedness Grants to Force Election Changes

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants should protect Americans from terrorism and cyberattacks, not force states to change election rules. According to FEMA documents reported by The New York Times, FEMA has told states it will withhold 20 percent of some terrorism-preparedness grants unless they provide proof of compliance with new election conditions. These grants total about $1 billion each year and help pay for barriers, planning, drills, and cybersecurity. The conditions would require states to move away from voting systems that use bar codes or quick response (QR) codes, rely solely on hand-marked paper ballots, run voter rolls through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) citizenship database, and conduct manual post-election audits of 5 percent of ballots. PUBLIC SAFETY MONEY SHOULD NOT BE USED AS ELECTION LEVERAGE The Constitution gives states the first responsibility for election administration, subject to oversight by Congress. It does not give the executive branch power to use terrorism-preparedness money as leverage over state voting systems. Conditions on federal funds should be set by Congress and should relate to the purpose of the funding. Election mandates do not belong in counterterrorism grants. WITHHELD GRANTS WOULD PUT COMMUNITIES AT RISK These grants protect subways, stadiums, houses of worship, schools, and public spaces. Large states could lose tens of millions of dollars, and smaller states could lose funding they cannot easily replace. Withholding these funds would punish residents for their state’s voting-equipment choices. That is not accountability. It is coercion. THE MANDATES ARE LEGALLY AND PRACTICALLY FLAWED Nearly every state already has some form of paper ballot backup, and every state has a post-election audit process. Forcing a single federal model through FEMA grant rules could impose major costs, delay vote counting, and disrupt election systems. A federal court has already barred an effort to force states to use the SAVE database to verify voters on their rolls. The reported FEMA grant rules would require the same process. CONGRESS SHOULD STOP THIS FUNDING ABUSE A federal court also blocked separate FEMA preparedness-grant conditions in December 2025. That ruling reinforced a basic constitutional point: agencies may not rewrite federal spending laws to impose unrelated policy conditions. Congress should defend its own authority over federal spending and elections before this tactic spreads. I urge you to: (1) OPPOSE GRANT CONDITIONS. Publicly oppose the new FEMA grant conditions and press the Department of Homeland Security to withdraw them. (2) BAR ELECTION CONDITIONS. Support Homeland Security appropriations language barring the use of FEMA preparedness grants to compel changes in state election administration. (3) CONDUCT OVERSIGHT HEARINGS. Support oversight hearings on the use of terrorism-preparedness funding as leverage over state election rules. Thank you.