Exclusive: Trump administration plans to use homeland security funds to pressure states into election changes

By Gabe Cohen, Tierney Sneed, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration is threatening to withhold tens of millions of dollars in federal homeland security funds from states unless they adopt a sweeping set of election changes, according to multiple sources and internal documents obtained by CNN.

The move is part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to root out alleged voter fraud — despite studies showing it’s far rarer than he claims — and exert more federal influence over how elections are run. It comes as multiple states have passed laws that seek to prevent the federal government from interfering with elections.

Under new rules governing several homeland security grant programs, states must take a number of steps, including phasing out certain electronic voting systems and moving to hand-marked paper ballots. They must also run their voter rolls through a controversial Department of Homeland Security citizenship verification database.

If not, states would lose out on some funding from DHS. These grants, expected to total more than $1 billion in the current fiscal year, are one of Washington’s main vehicles for helping state and local governments prevent terrorism, protect infrastructure and prepare for major disasters.

For years, the DHS grants, which states apply for, have required that at least 3% of the funds be spent broadly on election security. But the new guidelines, which CNN obtained and are expected to go out to states later this month, impose a set of mandatory reforms and steep penalties for noncompliance. States that refuse would lose 20% of the grant money — potentially millions of dollars in security funds.

“No changes to grant requirements or funding distributions are official until they are formally announced and published through proper, authorized agency channels,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the administration considers election security to be a core national security priority.

“Any recipient of federal funding should expect accountability for how taxpayer dollars are spent,” the spokesperson said.

The gambit fits a broader Trump playbook: using federal funds as leverage to pressure states to adopt policies aligned with his agenda. The administration has taken similar steps to punish states over immigration policies and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Courts have blocked some of those efforts, and this one could soon face legal challenges as well.

Trump’s attempts to unilaterally overhaul how elections are run — with executive orders and demands for sensitive voter data — have also run into legal hurdles. The Constitution gives states control over administering the ballot. Congress can pass election regulations, but the president has very limited powers to force election rule changes on his own, courts have found.

“I expect (the new requirements) will be blocked in the courts,” said David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who now advises election officials.

The new mandates target several pillars of state election administration and oversight. They require states to conduct manual election audits using methods established by the Trump administration and to use an approved government system to verify the citizenship of any person working at a polling location.

States must also submit a plan to phase out voting systems that don’t use paper ballots that voters can mark by hand, which are tabulated during elections.

Most jurisdictions already offer hand-marked paper ballots. But about 30% of voters in the country live in places that rely entirely on ballot-marking devices — machines that record a voter’s choices and print a paper ballot for counting — or on direct-recording systems that store votes electronically.

Among the places that would be forced to transition under the new rules are Delaware, Georgia, Nevada and South Carolina, as well as Los Angeles County,

The grant conditions also require states to run their full voter rolls through SAVE, or Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, a tool used to identify potential noncitizen voters. Critics say the DHS system is flawed because it can produce false matches and may wrongly flag eligible voters for removal.

Many states already use SAVE to vet voter rolls. Others have refused. The Justice Department has sued 30 states for declining to hand over their voter lists for a federal audit using the system.

Homeland security grants have already become a tool for the administration to pressure states into falling in line with the president’s policy goals. Last year, officials tried to withhold money unless states submitted updated population counts reflecting the administration’s mass deportation campaign, but several states sued and a court blocked the policy.

The election changes Trump is seeking could be enormously expensive for states. For instance, the nationwide cost of upgrading election equipment to align with voluntary voting standards has been estimated at $2.7 billion.

In Georgia, where the state legislature has also passed a law to require hand-marked paper ballots, Republican Secretary of State Raffensperger has estimated it will cost $66 million.

The new grant plan ups the ante by using a much larger share of the homeland security funding as leverage. Still, the cost of complying might ultimately be even greater than the total amount being withheld from a state — though the grant guidelines specify that states can request additional funding to help implement these changes.

This article has been updated with additional details.

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