Trump fires Election Assistance Commission members, leaving agency unable to act

Key Points:

• President Donald Trump fired all three remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), effectively disabling the only federal agency focused solely on election administration during a period of efforts to reshape federal voting rules.
• The two Democratic commissioners were terminated via email, while the sole Republican commissioner was allowed to resign; this leaves the EAC without any commissioners, preventing it from taking official actions until new members are appointed and confirmed by the Senate.
• The firings follow a recent Supreme Court decision granting the president power to remove leaders of independent agencies, raising unresolved legal questions about whether bipartisan election agencies like the EAC are subject to this authority.
• The EAC, created after the 2000 election to support states in election administration, handles tasks such as distributing federal election funds, maintaining the national mail voter registration form, and certifying voting systems, but does not run elections directly.
• With the EAC now frozen without a quorum, routine operations and potential changes to voter registration forms or voting system standards may be stalled, impacting preparations for the 2026 midterm elections.