US judge voids election rules tied to counterterrorism grants

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday, September 28, struck down conditions that would have tied U.S. counterterrorism grants to changes in election administration. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, lacked authority from Congress to impose the requirements. The decision comes weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.

FEMA had announced the conditions in June for two parts of its Homeland Security Grant Program. Under the plan, the agency would withhold 20 percent of grant funds until states and eligible urban areas showed compliance. The program supports state, local and tribal efforts to prevent and respond to terrorism; the court said Congress allocated approximately $1 billion to it for the 2026 fiscal year.

The requirements covered plans to replace voting systems that count barcodes or QR codes with equipment accepting hand-marked paper ballots, a 5 percent manual audit after elections, and reconciliation of voters with ballots cast. They also called for citizenship checks of registered voters and election workers through a federal verification system. The court described those steps as changes to routine election administration.

Six local governments in Texas, Tennessee and Ohio challenged the conditions. Ali concluded that the grant laws did not let FEMA make access to counterterrorism funding depend on states carrying out the federal government's preferred election policies at their own expense. His 24-page opinion vacated the election conditions but declined to issue the permanent injunction the plaintiffs had requested.

Lawyers for the local governments welcomed the decision, saying it protected funding for public safety work without requiring costly election changes. AP reported that the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA had not immediately commented; The Washington Post said the Justice Department had not immediately indicated whether it would appeal. The ruling removes these grant conditions as FEMA prepares its 2026 awards.