Trump ousts election commission members ahead of midterm elections

Donald Trump emptied the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on July 9, 2026, terminating the two Democratic commissioners, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, by email while Republican commissioner Christy McCormick resigned and Donald Palmer had already departed on April 30. The four-member body was left without any sitting commissioners just months before the 2026 midterm elections.

Congress created the Election Assistance Commission under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 after the disputed 2000 election, giving it four commissioners with no more than two from the same political party. Hicks and McCormick were sworn in on January 13, 2015, and Hovland joined on February 4, 2019.

The EAC does not run elections. It develops voluntary voting system guidelines, accredits testing laboratories, certifies voting systems, maintains the national mail voter registration form, and oversees the distribution of Help America Vote Act funds. It also serves as a national clearinghouse of election information and works with state and local officials, voting system manufacturers, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on testing, certification, and election guidance. Election officials have relied on the EAC’s voluntary standards and federal funding programs to shape how new equipment is tested, bought, and deployed.

The White House's position is that the president has the power to remove people who are not aligned with securing elections and relies on a recent Supreme Court ruling that expanded presidential removal power as precedent. The move also followed Trump’s March 2025 executive order seeking to require proof of citizenship on the national voter registration form, an effort blocked by a federal judge, along with related attempts to tie federal funds to citizenship checks that were also stopped in court.