FEMA To Withhold Funds Over State Election Policies

Another day, another attempt by the Trump administration to weaponize the federal government in an attempt to control elections. The plan of attack this time? Withholding anti-terrorism funds from states that don’t comply with election rules created by the Trump administration. 

Nothing says the Trump administration is committed to keeping Americans safe quite like withholding anti-terrorism funds over election lies. 

According to the New York Times, FEMA has said it will withhold 20% of some terrorism-preparedness grants from states unless they provide “proof of compliance” with President Donald Trump’s election security measures. These measures include requiring states to switch exclusively to paper-marked ballots, check citizenship, and conduct a postelection audit of at least 5% of the ballots. 

In its statement announcing the counterterrorism grants last month, FEMA said the funding should go to projects focused on “protecting the integrity of American elections” and “supporting border security efforts.” I didn’t realize election security fell under FEMA’s purview or had anything to do with counterterrorism measures. 

From the New York Times:

Homeland Security officials said in an unsigned statement that election security and integrity were top administration priorities and that grant recipients should face accountability.

The policies align closely with some of the goals pushed by right-wing activists that are rooted in false conspiracy theories about election machines and voting by noncitizens during the 2020 election.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research in Washington, said he expected the rules to fall if they are challenged in court, adding that they would not increase election security.

“They will actually harm election security,” Mr. Becker said. “These are radical changes to election processes.”

The changes would be incredibly costly and time-consuming, with a switch to hand-marked paper ballots potentially costing states hundreds of millions of dollars. Much of the counterterrorism funding goes to states with large populations, such as California, New York, and Texas. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statement criticizing the Trump administration over the funding rules. 

“After denying disaster relief funding and stripping millions from counterterrorism programs, the Trump administration is once again putting New Yorkers’ lives at risk to forward their political agenda,” Hochul’s statement read. “Unlike the President, my number one priority is New Yorkers’ safety, and I will fight to ensure our state has every resource available to keep us secure.”

What makes this effort even more baffling is that it reveals the Trump administration hasn’t learned from its Ls. Trump’s attempts to exert control over election procedures have failed in court time and time again. 

After the SAVE America Act stalled out in Congress, Trump decided to take matters into his own hands and issued the executive order that’s responsible for many of the aforementioned changes to election procedures. Several lawsuits were filed over the executive order, with federal judges blocking many of the proposed rules. A federal judge blocked the executive order a little over a week ago because the Constitution places control of election laws with the states, not the federal government. 

The Trump administration has also tried to withhold counterterrorism funding from states whose policies it didn’t agree with. It previously tried to withhold $36 million in counterterrorism funds from the New York transit system over the city’s sanctuary city policies. A judge ruled earlier this year that the Trump administration had to pay the funds and called the move to withhold the funding “arbitrary, capricious, and a blatant violation of the law.”

The administration’s previous attempts to withhold counterterrorism funds and federalize elections have failed in court, so why try again? Especially knowing that the affected states will undoubtedly file lawsuits over this move. There are so many actual issues facing the United States. Dude is spending more time combating a nonexistent problem than addressing any of the problems his base elected him to solve.

I never had any faith that Trump was going to do anything that didn’t serve him, but that’s also what makes this attempt to federalize elections even weirder. Since you know, he can’t run again! It’s not like he’s going to personally benefit from any of these attempted changes to election law. He’s doing this because he’s still in his feelings over the 2020 election. That’s not being a strong man. That’s just being a wimp.

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FEMA To Withhold Antiterrorism Funds Over State Election Policies was originally published on newsone.com