El Paso County, Texas

Metro Nashville and Davidson County, the City of Columbus, and Harris and El Paso counties in Texas have sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA over a plan to withhold 20% of Homeland Security Grant Program funding unless states and high-risk urban areas adopt five election-related conditions, including using the federal SAVE system to verify voter and poll-worker citizenship, phasing out bar/QR-code voting systems, and conducting post-election audits. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., argues election administration is a state power and that FEMA lacks authority to attach such conditions to anti-terrorism funding, which cities use for equipment like bomb robots, chemical detectors, drone defenses and dive gear. Columbus stands to lose millions in funding tied to Olympic and stadium security preparations.

City officials called the conditions costly, unnecessary and politically motivated, while a FEMA spokesperson dismissed the lawsuit as "partisan pushback" and defended the requirements as necessary for election security. The court will decide whether the funding conditions violate federal law.

Harris County and El Paso County, along with the city of Columbus, Ohio, and the Nashville metro government, have filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA over new conditions attached to the Homeland Security Grant Program, including the Urban Area Security Initiative. The rules require five election-procedure changes — such as moving toward hand-marked paper ballots and adding poll-worker citizenship verification — as a condition of receiving full grant funding, with FEMA authorized to withhold 20% until compliance is confirmed. For Harris County, that could mean nearly $4.7 million in withheld public safety funding.

The plaintiffs argue the conditions are unrelated to the grants' security purpose, were imposed without congressional authorization, and conflict with state election law. The Trump administration contends election infrastructure is a national security matter. Legal experts say the case, which seeks to block the rules while litigation proceeds, could ultimately reach the Supreme Court, though changes are unlikely before the November 2026 election given the timeline.