Overview
- CNN obtained internal Department of Homeland Security grant guidelines that would require states to phase out certain electronic voting systems, adopt hand-marked paper ballots, run manual audits and process full voter rolls through the SAVE citizenship-verification system, with a 20% cut in some grant money for noncompliance.
- The plan would affect jurisdictions serving roughly 30% of U.S. voters that rely entirely on ballot-marking devices or direct-recording electronic systems and could force expensive equipment replacements.
- Estimated costs include about $2.7 billion nationwide to upgrade voting equipment and a state-level estimate of roughly $66 million in Georgia, and the new rules allow states to request extra funding to implement changes.
- SAVE is a federal system used to check citizenship that critics say can produce false matches and wrongly flag eligible voters, and the Justice Department has already sued 30 states that refused to share voter lists for a SAVE audit.
- DHS did not respond to CNN’s inquiries, the guidelines were obtained by reporters and legal experts say the funding conditions are likely to face rapid court challenges given past judicial blocks and state control over elections; right-leaning outlets frame the move as election-integrity enforcement while left-leaning coverage emphasizes federal overreach.