The Trump administration is attempting to use federal funding to assert control over how elections are run at the state level, a new tactic that comes after a series of courtroom losses and the apparent death of an election-security bill in Congress.
The Department of Homeland Security said officials are considering whether to use grant funding allocated to states — and the threat of withholding it — to “advance core national security priorities,” which includes changes to U.S. election security and infrastructure. According to documents obtained by CNN, the administration wants states to hand count ballots and use the newly overhauled Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, database to flag potential noncitizen voters, both demands championed by President Donald Trump in recent weeks.
The president is willing to pull up to 20% of DHS grant funding, typically used for infrastructure projects, terrorism prevention and disaster preparation, from states that do not comply, the network reported.