POLITICO: “The boldest and clearest example of how the administration is employing Project 2025’s strategies.”

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Atlanta – After taking action to “indefinitely freeze” critical federal grants and loans, the Trump administration rescinded its order following a federal court’s temporary block. Buried in the Trump administration’s order to pause federal funds was a sneaky attack on election security. The freeze targeted $55 million in Election Security Grants administered by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

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These funds are essential for upholding election security and modernizing voting infrastructure. The Trump administration’s attempt to withhold these resources was a calculated move that seems to reflect Project 2025’s goal of undermining trust in the electoral process, which includes weakening our elections’ cybersecurity protections. The funding freeze appears to be rooted in Project 2025. Russ Vought, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget nominee, authored a chapter in Project 2025 about how the president could withhold funds to consolidate power, overcome career bureaucrats, and forward his agenda.

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“Just like Trump is injecting chaos into Americans’ lives, his funding freeze tried to pull the plug on election security to inject chaos into our elections. Gutting bipartisan election security funds after the 2024 election was targeted by a level of foreign threats that surpassed both 2016 and 2020 is a reckless decision that weakens America’s ability to protect our democracy. Even though their effort to undermine election independence failed for now, stopping Trump’s power grab before it sticks is essential to protecting independent elections, and by extension, all of our freedoms,” said Lauren Groh-Wargo, Fair Fight Action CEO.

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A Foundation of Election Security Now Under Threat: The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed in response to the chaos of the 2000 election to modernize and secure voting, and provide funding to every state in the country. With bipartisan support, it created standards for  statewide voter registration databases and accessible voting machines, and the Election Assistance Commission to help states administer elections. It provided the first major federal funding for election security, with $3.2 billion to upgrade systems, maintain voter rolls, and improve election administration. HAVA was called the “fastest piece of civil rights legislation ever passed” for expanding accessible voting for disabled Americans and has been critical to bolstering election security across the country as threats from foreign adversaries and cyberattacks increase. Some experts warn that current funding is insufficient to meet ongoing security needs, especially as election interference tactics evolve.

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Part of Trump’s Broader Plan to Undermine Elections: From calling to rewrite federal election laws, to freezing civil rights litigation within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and advancing the election impacts within Project 2025, which prioritizes voter fraud prosecutions over protecting voting rights, the Trump administration’s choice to gut election security funding appears to be part of a broader plan to erode the independence and security of elections.

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With picks of Pam Bondi for U.S. Attorney General and Harmeet Dhilon, to lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, Trump has given authority to two cronies that aided his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Under Bondi, the DOJ may lose its independence and along with it, crucial checks on election independence and voter suppression. Project 2025’s proposal to dismantle the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division would severely weaken enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. Trump’s DOJ is also empowering figures like Ed Martin, a staunch election denier and former “Stop the Steal” advocate, now the administration’s acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin has downplayed and spread false conspiracies about the January 6 insurrection, represented a member of the Proud Boys, and aligned with extremist election denier groups, making him a direct threat to fair election oversight.

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Combined with actions like firing federal prosecutors involved in Trump-related criminal investigations, these moves are shifting the Justice Department’s focus and demonstrating how the administration’s actions will have consequences for federal election oversight. By targeting election security funding while weakening civil rights protections, the administration is giving itself more control over elections.

A Threat to National Security: The level of foreign threats to the 2024 U.S. election surpassed the scale of adversarial operations in both 2016 and 2020. Intelligence agencies and cybersecurity experts warned that Russia, China, and Iran ramped up interference in 2024, targeting election systems, voter databases, and campaign officials. Cutting off election security funding now isn’t just irresponsible — it actively weakens America’s ability to protect our democracy.

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A Power Grab That Must Be Stopped: The federal funding freeze is an example of one way Trump’s administration will aim to bypass the Constitution’s separation of powers to control federal funds, setting a dangerous precedent for unchecked executive power. This fits a broader strategy, as outlined in Project 2025, to centralize executive power by undermining checks and balances and weaponizing federal resources for political gain. With election security funding in the crosshairs, this overreach is already threatening the independence of our elections. While the courts have taken initial steps to block the freeze, Congress must act swiftly to reassert its constitutional power, check presidential overreach, and protect our elections from permanent damage.

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