Trump fires all remaining Election Assistance Commission members, leaving the agency without a quorum

President Donald Trump on Thursday removed the three remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, leaving the agency with no commissioners and no power to act four months before the November midterm elections.

The two Democratic commissioners, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, learned of their dismissals by email. "On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service," the message read, according to Votebeat. It was signed by Morgan DeWitt Snow, deputy director of presidential personnel in the Executive Office of the President.

The third sitting commissioner, Republican Christy McCormick, was allowed to resign rather than be fired, Votebeat reported, citing three people inside the agency. McCormick declined to comment. The commission's fourth seat was already empty. Republican Donald Palmer left in April to join the Heritage Foundation.

The agency cannot act without a quorum

The EAC has four seats, and by law no more than two commissioners may belong to the same party. With every seat now vacant, the commission has no quorum and cannot conduct official business until new members take office. Commissioners are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, so Trump cannot install replacements on his own. The Help America Vote Act says the president is to consider recommendations from the House and Senate majority and minority leaders when choosing nominees.

What the commission does

Congress created the EAC through the Help America Vote Act after the disputed 2000 presidential election. It is the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration, and its work is largely supportive. It distributes federal election funds to the states, maintains the national mail voter registration form, and tests and certifies voting systems against federal standards known as the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. Many states require that federal certification before they will buy or use voting equipment, according to Votebeat.

The firings follow a Supreme Court ruling on removal power

The removals came days after the Supreme Court, at the close of its term in late June, ruled in Trump v. Slaughter that the president may fire the leaders of independent agencies, overturning decades of precedent in a case involving the Federal Trade Commission. In a separate decision, the court said Federal Reserve governors are treated differently because of the central bank's history.

Whether that ruling reaches bipartisan election agencies is unsettled. "It's an open question about the EAC and the [Federal Election Commission]," Richard Hasen, an election law professor at UCLA, told Votebeat. "The question has not been tested as to whether political entities created with bipartisan balance might be subject to another exception."

Earlier this year, Trump fired Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic member of the FEC who had stayed on in holdover status after her term expired. Weintraub did not sue. If any of the fired EAC commissioners challenge their removal in court, the case could become the first test of whether the new removal-power doctrine extends to federal election agencies built around partisan balance.

Who the commissioners were

Hicks, the commission's chair, had served since 2014 and previously worked for Democrats on the House Administration Committee, which oversees federal election law. Hovland joined in 2019 after a unanimous Senate confirmation and had been acting chief counsel to the Senate Rules Committee. McCormick had served since 2014 and previously was a senior trial attorney in the voting section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

What it means before November

With no quorum, the EAC cannot update the federal voter registration form or the voting-system standards states rely on. In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing the commission to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the national registration form. A commission without members cannot carry out that order or any other. The agency has gone without a quorum before, including a run of vacancies that delayed voting-system guidance until the Senate confirmed new members in 2019. This time the seats are empty because the president removed everyone at once.

Neither the White House nor the EAC responded to requests for comment, Votebeat reported.