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Harris, El Paso counties challenge federal election conditions on security grants

By
FOX 26 Houston
Harris County
Published August 19, 2026 5:58 PM CDT
Published August 19, 2026 5:58 PM CDT
article

The Brief

    • El Paso and Harris counties are among local governments suing over new federal conditions tied to anti-terrorism grants.
    • The rules require citizenship checks for voters and poll workers, voting system changes and audits of paper ballots.
    • The lawsuit argues the Trump administration cannot withhold funding to force election changes it calls unconstitutional and unrelated to terrorism.

A group of cities and counties, including El Paso and Harris counties, said the Trump administration is threatening to withhold anti-terrorism funding unless they agree to adopt strict election rules.

The counties joined the Nashville, Tennessee Metropolitan Government and the city of Columbus, Ohio in claiming the federal government is threatening to withhold 20% of their anti-terrorism grant funding over a series of changes to election security they claim is "arbitrary and illegal."

Communities in Texas, Ohio and Tennessee sue DHS, FEMA

Big picture view:

In June, the Federal Emergency Management Agency placed new eligibility requirements on the Homeland Security Grant.

The conditions of the grant require:

  • The use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system to verify the citizenship of every poll worker and voter.
  • Mandate costly and impractical changes to electronic voting systems
  • Impose a 5% audit of paper ballots

The lawsuit argues that Congress, not the executive branch, has the exclusive authority to set the terms on federal spending.

What they're saying:

"This is the kind of federal overreach we’ve come to expect from the Trump administration," said Abbie Kamin, Harris County Attorney. "To threaten law enforcement and public safety funding our agencies rely on, to withhold dollars that protect our communities for a partisan power grab is not only improper, it’s dangerous. Local control of elections is embedded in our Constitution, and any attempt to upend that must be vigorously guarded against." 

Dig deeper:

The lawsuit claims the new rules will interfere with election administration and impede voter access.

The lawsuit also claims that because the conditions are ambiguous and unrelated to addressing terrorism threats, the election conditions violate federalism and the Constitution's Spending Clause. They are also claiming the conditions violate the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

The Source: Information in this article comes from the Brennan Center.

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