The four local governments said the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to tie the grants to election security measures were unconstitutional, as states run elections, not the feds.
A group of four cities and counties announced a lawsuit this week challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to tie counterterrorism grants to election rule changes.
Harris and El Paso Counties in Texas; the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and the City of Columbus, Ohio announced they would sue the Department of Homeland Security in federal court over its announcement last month that states must implement various election security measures before they can receive homeland security grants.
The announcement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency came in its funding opportunity for the $1 billion Homeland Security Grant Program and said states would need to take what FEMA called “critical, common-sense steps to protect U.S. elections,” to receive funds.
Route Fifty
By Chris Teale,
Managing Editor, Route Fifty
August 21, 2026