Trump leaves federal election agency without any commissioners

WASHINGTON —

The Election Assistance Commission, the federal agency that helps states secure elections, certify voting systems, and distribute election funding, is now without any commissioners following actions by President Donald Trump and the resignation of its sole Republican member.

President Trump removed the commission’s two Democratic members, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland. Republican Commissioner Christy McCormick resigned. The commission’s other Republican member, Donald Palmer, had already voluntarily left the agency earlier this year, leaving all four seats vacant. Hicks and Hovland were notified of their removals in an email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office.

A senior White House official said the president has the authority to remove commissioners who are not “totally aligned” with his election security mission, citing a recent Supreme Court decision granting the president authority to fire members of independent agencies.

The immediate effect on the November midterm elections is expected to be limited because state and local officials, not the federal commission, administer elections.

Sean Drasher, elections director for Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, said the immediate impact on local election operations is minimal. “Once I got past the initial shock of, wow, that’s breaking. That’s big breaking news. Day to day, it’s not going to impact us a whole lot,” he said.

But state and local officials say they do rely on the commission for guidance, federal grants, and oversight of voting system certification.

Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas said, “We certainly rely on the EAC for training and support, for reporting back to the states on how elections are functioning.”

The longer-term implications are less clear. Leaving the seats vacant could prevent the commission from issuing new grants and complicate its oversight of voting-system testing and certification.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt expressed concern. “In the long run, that’s a little bit of a concern that those voting systems, as they’re upgraded, as they’re improved, will not be certified in a timely way,” he said.

The White House has not announced when President Trump will nominate replacements for the vacant seats, a process that would require Senate confirmation. Under the Help America Vote Act, the four-member commission must include two Democrats and two Republicans.

The president and the commission have clashed in the past over election rules. The president directed the commission to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, but the commission did not implement the change. A federal judge later blocked that part of the order, ruling that only Congress or states could make such changes to federal election rules.

The White House has not indicated whether this prior dispute influenced the recent removals.