1OCT

Judge Ali voids FEMA election conditions

3 min read

15:11UTC

Judge Amir Ali struck down FEMA's rule tying a fifth of states' counterterrorism grants to SAVE checks, ballot audits and a move off voting machines.

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Key takeaway

States may use DHS's SAVE System, but FEMA cannot withhold counterterrorism grants to force it.

Amir Ali, a US district judge for the District of Columbia, on 28 September vacated election conditions that FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) had attached to Homeland Security Grant Program counterterrorism funds⁠¹. Nashville, four Texas counties (Harris, Travis, Dallas and El Paso) and Columbus, Ohio, brought the case, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County v. Department of Homeland Security, in August.

The conditions required states and high-risk cities to use SAVE (the database DHS uses to check immigration and citizenship status), which DHS (America's Department of Homeland Security) runs for state and federal agencies, run a 5% manual audit of paper ballots and move away from voting machines, on pain of losing 20% of each state's allocation⁠². Ali wrote that the statute lets FEMA fund projects that states propose but does not let it "use the possibility of grants to induce states or high-risk urban areas to carry out the federal government's preferred projects at their own expense."

The ruling came three days after the Supreme Court let DHS restore the expanded SAVE System, which lower courts had blocked since June. Together the two decisions separate the tool from the lever. States may use the expanded SAVE, but DHS cannot make their counterterrorism money depend on it, so take-up before 3 November rests on each state's own choice.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, hands out grants to help states and cities prepare for terrorism and disasters. This year it added conditions about elections. To get their full grant, states had to use DHS's SAVE System to check voters' citizenship, count 5% of paper ballots by hand and move away from voting machines. If they refused, they would lose 20% of the money. A federal judge in Washington, DC, said FEMA had no power to attach those conditions, because the grant law only lets it fund projects that states and cities propose themselves.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

The federal government has little direct power over how states run elections. Article I gives states the first say on the manner of congressional elections, and Congress has never passed a national rule on voting machines or audits.

Since 2025 the administration has used grant conditions as the workaround. Homeland Security Grant Program money reaches every state and large city, so a 20% penalty gives Washington leverage without a new law. The suit, brought by Nashville, Columbus and four Texas counties, tested whether FEMA's statute allows that leverage.

Escalation

Contained for now. The conditions are vacated, so states face no grant penalty before 3 November. DHS can appeal to the D.C. Circuit.

What could happen next?

Consequence
States and cities keep full Homeland Security Grant Program allocations without changing election equipment or audits before 3 November.
Precedent
A statutory ruling against grant conditions on election administration narrows one route the federal government has to shape how states run elections.

Source Landscape

This story draws on mixed-leaning sources from United States

United States

Primary parallel: From 2017 the Justice Department tied Byrne JAG police grants to cooperation with immigration enforcement. The 3rd Circuit in 2019 and other courts struck the conditions as beyond the statute, on the same ground Judge Ali used: the grant law did not authorise them.

Counter-parallel: In February 2020 the 2nd Circuit upheld the same Byrne JAG conditions, splitting from the other circuits. The split showed that grant-condition fights can turn on how each appeals court reads the statute, so this ruling may not hold on appeal.

The penalty was 20% of each state's Homeland Security Grant Program allocation, money that pays for police equipment, emergency planning and counterterrorism staff. For a large county the choice was between an unfunded election change and a cut to public-safety budgets.

The conditions would also have carried their own costs. A 5% manual audit of paper ballots needs staff time in every county, and moving away from voting machines means new equipment and training that the grant did not cover.

Consensus view: Judge Ali held that the grant statute 'gives FEMA authority to fund projects proposed by states and high-risk urban areas' but not to use grants 'to induce' them to carry out federal projects at their own expense. The Brennan Center, counsel for the plaintiff cities and counties, presents it as a limit on using unrelated money to reshape election administration.

Counter-view: The conditions rest on the view that election security falls inside a Homeland Security grant's purpose. On that reading, SAVE checks and ballot audits are counterterrorism measures, and the Supreme Court's 25 September stay shows the administration's view of SAVE has legal support.

Key tension: Whether the ruling rests on the statute or the Constitution. A statutory ruling invites Congress or FEMA to rewrite the grant terms; a constitutional one would bar the tactic outright.

First Reported In

Update #19 · Bulk voter citizenship checks are back

Brennan Center for Justice· 1 Oct 2026

Read original →

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