El Paso County joins federal lawsuit against DHS over new election rules

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Monday, El Paso County announced it joined a federal lawsuit challenging the Department of Homeland Security's decision to withhold 20% of funding for certain grant programs unless states and some local governments comply with new federal requirements governing how elections are conducted.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is part of the DHS, made that decision.

El Paso County joined Harris County, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, and the City of Columbus, Ohio. They filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The cities and counties argue the DHS' new grant conditions would make elections more expensive, difficult to administer and less reliable. They also alleged the conditions violate the Constitution and "jeopardize public safety, El Paso County said.

“Holding critical grant funding hostage to advance a false political narrative is unlawful. It comes at the direct expense of local election offices, law enforcement agencies, and the communities they are entrusted to serve,” said El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez in a statement.

El Paso County said the grants helped local governments prepare for and respond to terrorism, natural disasters and other emergencies. It claimed the new conditions put $1.75 million in funding for law enforcement and more than $170,000 for first-responder equipment at risk.

“Imposing additional requirements is both costly and burdensome, while our law enforcement agencies rely on this funding to purchase critical equipment that helps protect and save lives,”
Sanchez said.

Other changes to how elections run include these requirements, according to the county:

• Transition to hand-marked paper ballots instead of electronic voting systems.
• Manually audit at least 5% of ballots.
• Use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to verify the citizenship of every registered voter and election worker.

El Paso County claimed transitioning to paper ballots could cost $3 million to print ballots. It also claimed manual auditing would "add significant new costs and be contrary to state law in some cases."

The county also called the SAVE system "error-prone."

The local governments suing DHS argued the new conditions violate the Constitution's separation of powers and the Administrative Procedure Act. El Paso County said the Constitution gives Congress the authority to set the terms of federal spending and provides states with the power to make rules for elections.

El Paso County said it's asking a judge for an order to "pause" the federal decision and declare the new rules unlawful so the full amount of funding can be released.

Additionally, 25 states and the District of Columbia filed a similar lawsuit asking to block the election conditions in their states. El Paso County said the local governments involved in the lawsuit filed Monday are located in states that didn't participate in the previous lawsuit.

You can read the full lawsuit below.