Trump scraps federal election commission, showing intent to steal midterm elections

President Donald Trump, wielding a freshly expanded interpretation of his executive authority, summarily purged the remaining leadership of the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) on Thursday, throwing the nation’s election support infrastructure into disarray just four months before the November midterm elections.

The EAC is a bipartisan, independent commission that was established by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002.

It requires an affirmative vote by at least three of its commissioners to conduct official business or establish policy. Historically, the panel has operated for extended periods without a quorum and, for several years, had no sitting commissioners.

With no commissioners, the agency’s authority will go to Director Brianna Schletz, who began her term as executive director on March 25, 2024, after two and a half years as inspector general.

Even without commissioners, the agency continues to operate under the guidance of its career staff, with Schletz holding limited authority to manage operations as outlined in the EAC’s Roles and Responsibilities policy.

The White House confirmed the action against the bipartisan panel, which Congress created in 2002 to serve as a nonpartisan clearinghouse for election administration, distribute federal grants to states, and certify voting systems.

In a late Thursday notice, the two Democratic commissioners, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, were told their positions were terminated “effective immediately.” Republican commissioner Christy McCormick was allowed to resign.

“The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections,” a White House official told The Associated Press, citing the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Trump v. Slaughter.

The move represents the first major test of that decision, issued June 29, which overruled a 90-year-old precedent to give presidents broad authority to fire leaders of independent agencies without cause. It is also the latest, and perhaps most direct, act in Mr. Trump’s persistent campaign to exert federal control over state-run elections.

Critics reacted with swift and stark condemnation, portraying the action not as an administrative reshuffling, but as an assault on democratic norms.

“President Trump and his allies are launching an unprecedented attack on the freedom to vote,” said New Jersey progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick, who faulted establishment Democrats for failing to restrain these abuses. “The purge of the federal Election Assistance Commission’s independent leadership is merely the latest front in a broader campaign that includes issuing unconstitutional executive orders, launching an illegal attempt to seize personal and private voter data, redrawing maps to eliminate congressional districts where Republicans can lose, purging voters from the rolls, and targeting pro-voter organizations.”

McCormick said Blue Dog Democrats have assisted Trump’s unprecedented attack on the freedom to vote by supporting legislation or positions that weaken voter protections.

“New Jersey’s sweeping new consumer data law—signed by Gov. Mikie Sherrill on June 30—imposes annual registration fees of up to $1.5 million and civil penalties of up to $50,000 per record, forcing data providers to scramble over whether they can legally continue selling the very voter-targeting information that such attacks often rely upon,” McCormick, who took two of five votes away from disgraced former US Senator Bob Menendez in the 2018 Democratic primary election.

“Donald Trump knows that in November voters will reject everything he stands for,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “He’s terrified of the sacred power we all hold as voters, and that’s why he wants to rig this election.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer echoed that sentiment, asserting on social media that Trump is “gutting the independent agency that certifies voting systems” in a “brazen attempt to seize control of our elections before a single vote is cast.”

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes accused the administration of being “dead set on causing chaos for our election officials across this country.”

The president insists on passing the Save America Act, which he said would “guarantee the midterms” for the GOP, but that could be dangerous for Republicans, as most Americans still want to have a choice among different politicians rather than merely being able to confirm candidates put forward by party bosses in a system that resembles Soviet communism.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), joined by CLC president and former Republican Chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Trevor Potter, filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to consider the effect that dramatically expanding presidential power would have on the independent agencies that regulate our elections.  

The commission’s role is ostensibly managerial, not operational. It accredits testing laboratories, develops voluntary voting system guidelines, and maintains the national mail voter registration form. It does not count votes or certify elections.

However, with a quorum gone, the agency cannot formally act on new policies, update guidelines, or approve grants, hobbling an entity many states rely on for support and funding.

One former official characterized the agency as a “dead man walking.”

The commission had been a target of the president before, particularly over his demand to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal registration form.

A federal judge in Boston permanently blocked that provision late last month, noting the Constitution “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections.” Undeterred, Trump has continued to push the legislation in Congress.

The Constitution gives states and Congress the power to run elections, and the president has virtually no role in the process.

Trump ignored this fact and issued an executive order in March that aims to overhaul the nation’s election systems.

His administration is dismantling a federal agency responsible for protecting election security. And it has targeted and threatened election officials and others who keep elections free and fair, while supporting those who undermine elections, including the January 6 rioters.

The president has repeatedly made unfounded and false claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election after losing to former President Biden, and abolishing the EAC intensifies a sweeping campaign to erode the safeguards that keep elections free, fair, and secure.

Making things even worse, the president kicked off a nationwide redistricting scramble, aiming to boost the Republican Party’s odds of keeping control in Congress.

This push has been fueled by a Roberts-led U.S. Supreme Court, which capped off its long-running effort to dismantle the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais.

These actions — many of which are unconstitutional, illegal abuses of power — threaten the rights that define us as Americans: to choose our own leaders; to express political views without fear of retribution; and to live in a country where the rule of law prevents the president from interfering in an election.

A White House spokesman did not say when—or if—the president intended to nominate new members to the commission. For now, states are left to fill the gap.