The federal government hands states more than a billion dollars a year to stop terrorist attacks, protect power plants and water systems, and get ready for hurricanes and disasters. That money was born out of the September 11th attacks. Now the Trump administration is using it as a weapon — to force states to change how they run elections.

On July 9, 2026, Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee demanded that the administration stop. But the plan itself isn't a rumor. It's spelled out in internal grant documents.

What the administration is actually doing

Back in June, CNN obtained the new rules governing several homeland security grant programs. Here's the deal the Trump administration is offering states: change your election system the way we say, or lose your security money.

To keep all their funding, states would have to:

• Rip out their voting machines. States must submit a plan to phase out any voting system that isn't a hand-marked paper ballot. About 30% of voters in the country live in places that use ballot-marking machines or electronic systems. Delaware, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, and Los Angeles County would all be forced to switch.
• Run every voter through a federal database. States must check their entire voter rolls against a Department of Homeland Security tool called SAVE. Critics say the system is flawed because it produces false matches and can wrongly flag eligible voters to be kicked off the rolls.
• Audit elections the Trump way and verify the citizenship of anyone working at a polling place, using a government system the administration approves.

States that refuse would lose 20% of their grant money — potentially millions of dollars meant to prevent terrorism and protect first responders.

This is not the government's job

Here's the part that should bother everyone, no matter which party you support: the Constitution gives states the power to run elections. The president does not get to rewrite election law by threatening to cut off disaster money.

"I expect (the new requirements) will be blocked in the courts," David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who now advises election officials, told CNN. Courts have already blocked earlier attempts by this administration to use federal grants as leverage — including a plan to withhold money unless states helped with mass deportations.

This is a pattern. When the administration can't get its way through Congress or the courts, it reaches for the money states depend on and squeezes.

Who actually pays for this

Even if a state gave in, the bill would be enormous. Replacing voting equipment nationwide has been estimated at $2.7 billion. In Georgia, the Republican Secretary of State estimated a switch to hand-marked paper ballots would cost $66 million on its own.

And while states fight over election rules they never asked to change, real security money sits frozen. In their letter, House Homeland Security Democrats — led by Ranking Member Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Rep. Tim Kennedy of New York — warned that the administration is:

• Holding nearly $200 million in counterterrorism funding hostage "unless States adopt election requirements that conflict with court rulings and State law."
• Withholding nearly $200 million more in 2026 preparedness funding.
• Sitting on more than $600 million from 2025 that was meant for states, local governments, and first responders.

"As we approach the 25th anniversary of September 11th, it is deeply alarming that DHS and FEMA, under Donald Trump, continue to manipulate the very funding born out of a national tragedy," the lawmakers wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and FEMA acting head Robert Fenton. "Playing political games with counterterrorism funding undermines public safety and deprives first responders of the resources they need to do their jobs."

The bottom line

The whole thing rests on a lie — that American elections are riddled with fraud. Study after study has shown voter fraud is extremely rare. But the administration is using that false claim to justify taking anti-terrorism money away from your town's police and fire departments unless your state bends its election laws to Trump's will.

That's not election security. It's a hostage situation. And the people left exposed are the first responders and communities who were counting on that money to keep them safe.

Source

Reporting by Michigan Advance / States Newsroom and CNN. Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images.