From left to right: Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama talks with U.S. Election Assistance Commissioners Thomas Hicks, Benjamin Hovland and Christy McCormick after a House hearing on May 20.
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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
With just months until the midterms, President Trump relieved the remaining members of the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a move that drew swift condemnation from Democrats and voting rights advocates.
An association of state election officials sent word out to its members on Thursday about Trump’s dismissals, and in a statement a White House official said the president “reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted. The Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so.”
In the Slaughter case, the U.S. Supreme Court late last month ruled that a president has a freer hand to remove members of independent federal agencies.
The EAC moves also come as Trump continues to try to influence elections in unprecedented ways.
For instance, Trump issued a 2025 executive order that called on the EAC to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form it maintains. Judges have blocked that executive order’s main provisions, saying they exceed a president’s constitutional authority.
The EAC was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). The under-the-radar agency certifies voting systems and develops guidelines for state and local election administration, among its charges.
Its four commissioners are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. HAVA specifies that no more than two commissioners may belong to the same political party. A Republican, Don Palmer, had already departed earlier this year, leaving two Democratic members — Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland — and one Republican, Christy McCormick. Trump dismissed Hicks and Hovland; McCormick resigned her position.
All three had been confirmed by the Senate unanimously.
A spokesperson for the EAC did not respond to a request for comment.
California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and New York U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle, the ranking Democrats on committees with jurisdiction over elections, quickly blasted the commissioners’ removals.
“President Trump is trying to dismantle yet another independent guardrail of our democracy designed to keep elections fair and secure,” they said in a statement. “Purging commissioners just months before the midterm elections and further gutting support for our state and local elections officials is a blatant part of his plan to politicize our elections and enable more unlawful and dangerous election interference.”
Michael Waldman — president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, which advocates for expanded voting access — said in his own statement that the dismissals “are deeply concerning in light of President Trump’s relentless efforts to try to interfere in elections.”
“Congress deliberately structured the Election Assistance Commission as a bipartisan agency to help states administer free, fair, and secure elections,” he said. “These removals leave the agency without leadership and unable to carry out its major responsibilities.”
Matt Weil, vice president of governance at the Bipartisan Policy Center, noted in a statement that the EAC has operated without a quorum for much of its existence, yet he called Trump’s dismissals “unprecedented” and “a significant loss for one of the federal government’s few institutions explicitly designed around bipartisan governance.”
