EAC Tells States: Drop DEI Policies if You Want Election Security Funds

A key federal elections agency is requiring states to drop all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in order to receive crucial election security funding.

Officials with the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a bipartisan independent organization, told state and local election officials in an annual meeting last week that they would need to sign a statement affirming they don’t “operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws” to receive security grants, the Washington Post first reported.

The statement doesn’t define what constitutes a DEI initiative or specify specific federal laws that such initiatives could violate. Instead, it cites a recent executive order from President Donald Trump that cracks down on DEI efforts.

 A specific portion of Trump’s order directs all executive agencies to make the recipients of federal grants pledge that they do not have DEI initiatives that violate federal law. The provision further notes that the government can pursue enforcement actions under the False Claims Act against recipients if they are found to be in violation of  federal anti-discrimination laws.

Trump is currently being sued over the executive order the commission cited in its new requirement. Last month, a Maryland judge blocked executive agencies from adding any pledge to federal grants, though the order was later stayed by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Including the requirement in the election security grant adds to the several actions the EAC has recently taken in response to Trump’s executive order that have brought its independence into question.

In response to the new rule, several top state election officials have held off on signing the statement over concerns that they could open themselves up to potential liability for having DEI initiatives.

“I’m disturbed to see new terms and conditions that target diversity, equity and inclusion attached to election security funding,” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) told the Post. “To be bound to a political agenda from the president for money appropriated by Congress is wrong. We’ve never seen politicized terms and conditions before.”

Congress designed the EAC to operate as an “independent entity” with partisan balance to ensure its decisions are fair and unbiased. Lawmakers also designed the commission so that the president would have very little legal authority over it.

Despite the EAC’s statutory independence, Trump has directed it to take several different actions that would affect how elections are conducted and how people register to vote.

Several voting rights organizations, including the Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU, urged the EAC to not comply with Trump’s direction, arguing that the president has no authority to direct its commissioners to act.

The organizations also noted that neither the president nor the commission can “unilaterally impose conditions on federal funding without congressional approval.”