Trump fires last election commission members, fueling midterm chaos fears

Donald Trump removed the last three members of the Election Assistance Commission, leaving the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration unable to take formal action just as states and counties are preparing for the 2026 midterms. The firings hit Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, while Christy McCormick resigned as the commission was emptied out.

The EAC was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, Congress’s response to the breakdowns exposed by the 2000 election. Under that law, the commission has four members, nominated by the president from recommendations by congressional leaders, and no more than two may belong to the same political party. Hicks, Hovland and McCormick were the last sitting commissioners before Trump’s move.

The EAC maintains the national mail voter registration form, accredits testing laboratories, certifies voting systems and distributes election security grants. Without a quorum, the commission cannot take formal votes, a problem that can delay certification work, stall updates to guidance and complicate the flow of federal grant money that local election offices use to bolster equipment, cybersecurity and staffing ahead of a presidential-year cycle.

The EAC held its 2026 annual board meetings in Chicago and Washington, D.C., bringing together about 150 state and local election officials who have to certify machines, train workers and keep registration systems running on deadline.

His 2025 executive order on elections sought to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to federal voter registration forms and pressure states to adopt Election Day mail-ballot deadlines, but courts largely blocked the effort. On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court’s Trump v. Slaughter decision expanded presidential power to fire some independent-agency officials.