Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Election Rules Tied to Counterterrorism Funds

A U.S. judge has stopped the Trump administration from requiring local governments to change their election rules in order to receive counterterrorism funding. This decision was made on Monday in a case brought by several local governments against the Department of Homeland Security.

The lawsuit, known as Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al., was heard by Judge Amir H. Ali in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Local governments from Tennessee, Texas, and Ohio argued that Congress did not link the receipt of counterterrorism grants to how elections are run.

The Homeland Security Grant Program provides federal money to help state and local governments prevent and respond to terrorism. The local governments claimed that this program was created to assist them in security matters, not to control election procedures.

The conflict began when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) added five election-related conditions to the funding for the fiscal year 2026. These conditions included requirements for voting equipment, post-election audits, and checks on voter and election worker citizenship.

Under the new funding rules, local governments would have to move away from electronic voting systems that use bar codes and instead use hand-marked paper ballots. They also needed to conduct manual audits after elections and verify the citizenship of voters using a government system.

The local governments argued that FEMA would withhold 20% of the funding unless these election-related conditions were met, which they claimed was an unfair tactic. They stated that FEMA did not have the authority to impose such conditions.

The judge’s ruling means that the Trump administration cannot require these election changes while the case is still being decided in court.