Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
DHS ties homeland-security grants to hand-marked paper ballots and SAVE screening of voter rolls, and a judge vacates the conditions
The conditions came in FEMA’s funding notice for the roughly $1 billion Homeland Security Grant Program. Judge Amir Ali ruled on September 28, 2026 that they were beyond FEMA’s authority.
What happened
In June 2026, FEMA’s notice of funding opportunity for the roughly $1 billion Homeland Security Grant Program, first reported by CNN on June 22, set new conditions. States and high-risk urban areas had to plan a move from barcode or QR-code voting systems to hand-marked paper ballots and conduct 5% manual audits. They also had to reconcile voters to ballots.
The notice required states to run voter rolls and election workers through DHS’s SAVE citizenship database. DHS would withhold 20% of each grant until compliance was shown. SAVE was built to check the immigration status of benefit applicants one at a time. DHS and the Social Security Administration rebuilt it to include U.S.-born citizens and allow bulk searches.
Twenty-five states and D.C. sued in Rhode Island on July 23, saying at least $148 million was at stake. Nashville, Columbus and four Texas counties sued on August 17. On September 28, 2026, Judge Amir Ali vacated the conditions as beyond FEMA’s authority. The state suit was pending.
Who benefited
The White House and DHS gained a financial lever to push every state into bulk citizenship screening of voters through a federal database. Republican-led states already using SAVE, such as Louisiana, gained federal backing for purges.
Who wanted something
Trump’s 2025 and 2026 election executive orders directed the SAVE overhaul, and DHS under Secretary Markwayne Mullin and USCIS carried it out. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division planned to run the voter data it was demanding from states against the database. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court the conditions were lawful uses of grant authority.
Who lost out
Naturalized citizens and others whose Social Security records do not reflect their citizenship face proof requirements or removal when SAVE returns a non-match. Judge Sparkle Sooknanan found in a separate case that states were already removing U.S. citizens from rolls on inaccurate information. States that refuse lose 20% of their security grants.
Why it matters
Grant conditions let the federal government dictate how states run elections without passing a law. In that separate case the Supreme Court granted a stay on September 25, 2026, 39 days before the election, over a dissent by Justice Jackson, and let the SAVE database run.
Sources U.S. District Court, D.D.C. (via CourtListener) (primary)Democracy DocketTexas TribuneCNBC