Trump Assault: Fires Election Assistance Commission Members Ahead Of Midterms
India-West News Desk
WASHINGTON, D.C. -The Trump administration has removed the three remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, leaving all four seats on the bipartisan federal agency vacant just months before the midterm elections.
The White House confirmed the departures on July 9 and said the vacant positions would be filled. Any new commissioners appointed by President Donald Trump will need Senate confirmation.
Democrats Thomas Hicks and Benjamin W. Hovland were informed by email that they had been dismissed, while Republican Christy McCormick was asked to resign, according to people familiar with the matter.
The commission had already been operating with one vacant seat following the resignation of Republican Don Palmer earlier this year.
The Election Assistance Commission works with state and local officials to help administer elections across the country. Its responsibilities include certifying voting equipment, sharing election practices among states and coordinating with other agencies.
The decision to remove the commissioners so close to the midterms has drawn criticism and raised concerns about the agency’s ability to carry out its work.
Hovland said election administrators are already being asked to take on greater responsibilities despite limited resources, increasing the possibility of mistakes.
“When you’re asking more and more of people without giving them the necessary resources, you know, mistakes happen,” he said.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, called the move “irresponsible and dangerous,” saying it undermined nonpartisan election administration.
The commission has been left without members before. Beginning in December 2011, it operated for three years without commissioners, according to Matthew Weil, vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center and a former EAC staffer.
The agency has since made changes that allow its staff to continue some functions, including certifying election equipment, even in the absence of commissioners. Weil, however, said commissioners remain necessary to set policies, respond to changes and coordinate with local election officials.
