Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the administration’s decision Monday to condition federal counterterrorism grant money on states adopting a series of election security measures, including mandatory citizenship verification for voter rolls.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced in June that states would need to comply with five election security requirements or forfeit 20 percent of their homeland security grant funding. The grants are drawn from programs created after the September 11 attacks to help states prevent and respond to terror threats.
“Election security is national security and protecting the Nation’s critical infrastructure is a top priority,” Mullin said in a statement. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are taking decisive action to protect election systems from threats like foreign interference, insider threats, and cyberattacks.”
Among the new requirements: states must use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to verify the citizenship status of voters and poll workers. The SAVE system was originally built to check eligibility for benefit programs such as food stamps. States must also conduct a manual audit of at least 5 percent of votes cast.
The affected funding includes FEMA’s State Homeland Security Program, the Urban Area Security Initiative, and Operation Stonegarden, the last of which is specifically tied to border security work.
Blue-state officials reacted sharply.
“This is a shakedown, not ‘security,'” Brandon Richards, a spokesman for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, said in an email to The Hill. “Once again, the Trump Administration is trying to impose illegal conditions on funding already appropriated by Congress.”
Colorado’s governor also rejected the requirements. “Colorado has safe and secure elections that are a model for the nation,” said Eric Maruyama, a spokesman for Gov. Jared Polis, adding that the state is reviewing its options.
Senate Democrats pushed back on the SAVE database itself. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote in a letter that DHS has previously acknowledged the database “may produce inaccurate results.”
The Trump administration has faced repeated Democratic allegations of politicizing federal disaster and security aid. Politico reported in March that 89 percent of disaster aid requests were approved for Republican-leaning states, compared to 23 percent for states with Democratic governors and two Democratic senators.
