Trump Fires EAC Commissioners, Crippling Federal Election Oversight Ahead of Midterms
On July 9, 2026, President Trump fired Democratic EAC commissioners Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland by email, while Republican commissioner Christy McCormick was allowed to resign. Without a quorum, the EAC cannot certify voting systems, distribute HAVA grants, or update the National Mail Voter Registration Form, leaving states vulnerable ahead of the November midterms. The firings follow the Supreme Court's June 2026 ruling in Trump v. Slaughter (No. 25-845), which eliminated for-cause removal protections for independent agency members, though the Court carved out a narrow exception for Federal Reserve governors in Trump v. Cook.
On July 9, 2026, President Trump took direct aim at the only federal agency tasked with helping states run secure and accessible elections. Two Democratic members of the Election Assistance Commission, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, were terminated by email. The Republican commissioner, Christy McCormick, was permitted to resign—a distinction the White House leveraged to claim bipartisanship while achieving the same result: zero commissioners remain. The agency now lacks any quorum to conduct business under the Help America Vote Act.
This is the predictable consequence of the Supreme Court’s June 2026 decision in Trump v. Slaughter (No. 25-845), which eliminated for-cause removal protections at the FTC and similar independent agencies. That same day, the Court in Trump v. Cook upheld the for-cause removal protections specifically for Federal Reserve Board governors on structural separation-of-powers grounds—a narrow, Fed-specific carve-out—but offered no shelter to election commissioners. Trump’s legal team has treated Slaughter as a blank check to fire any independent-agency official, including EAC members, who now lack statutory removal protections under the current reading of the law (though their 4-year terms remain technically in force, they are terminable at will).
The fallout is immediate and concrete. The EAC’s grant programs—which distributed hundreds of millions to states in 2025 for cybersecurity upgrades, poll worker training, and voting machine testing—freeze. The agency certifies voting system software and maintains the National Mail Voter Registration Form, but without a quorum no updates can be approved and no new systems can be cleared. The federal write-in absentee ballot for overseas and military voters will continue on autopilot, but any state that changes its registration form or adopts new voting equipment must wait indefinitely for federal approval. States are left to fend for themselves against sophisticated cyber threats and unverifiable voting systems, a direct threat to the integrity of the 2026 midterm elections.
The humanitarian alternative
Congress should immediately pass the Election Assistance Commission Restoration Act, which would codify the EAC's funding and quorum requirements into permanent law, protecting it from executive removal. The bill should require the appointment of qualified commissioners with staggered six-year terms and explicit for-cause removal protections that the Supreme Court has declined to overturn in Cook. Additionally, the Federal Election Integrity Act should create an emergency 'continuity-of-administration' fund—administered jointly by the EAC and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency—that can disburse cybersecurity and voting machine modernization grants even during a commission vacancy. Until such legislation passes, state election officials should enact state-level contingency plans to fund their own independent voting system testing and provide alternative voter registration portals for federal elections, using existing state authority under the National Voter Registration Act.
Falsifiable predictions
What this entry claims will happen, and what data would prove it wrong. The Reckoner revisits these against current reality.
- At least one state will miss a certification deadline for new voting machines purchased for the 2026 midterms because the EAC cannot review them.
- Congress will hold a hearing on EAC vacancies before the November midterms but will fail to pass a restoration bill.
Original source — excerpted
news Trump fires Election Assistance Commission members ahead of midterms"By Bo Erickson and Erin Banco WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday terminated the last three members of the Election Assistan..."