Trump empties election commission ahead of 2026 midterms, shattering bipartisanship

President Trump's July 2026 purge of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is a textbook case of the unitary-executive maximalism that Project 2025 advocates: stripping independent expertise from election administration and replacing it with partisan loyalty. The EAC was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 specifically as a bipartisan, independent agency with equal Democratic and Republican seats, precisely to avoid the partisan capture of election machinery. By firing both Democratic commissioners and pressuring the Republican to resign—leaving zero commissioners on a four-member body—Trump has effectively dismantled the agency's ability to certify voting machines, issue voluntary voting-system guidelines, or distribute federal election security funds to states.

The harm is concrete. Without a quorum, the EAC cannot update voting-system standards, leaving state and local election officials without federal guidance on ballot-marking devices, electronic poll books, and paper-verification requirements. States that rely on EAC certification for procurement face uncertainty at a moment when election deniers already control key state offices. Moreover, the agency administers the Help America Vote Act payments and election security grants; a deadlocked EAC means states won't receive guidance or funds that could help them expand early voting, secure voter rolls, or replace outdated machines. This is not abstract—in 2020, the EAC distributed over $800 million in election security grants; those flows now face partisan jeopardy.

The legally permissible alternative is not to walk away from the agency entirely. Congress can restore the EAC's independence by codifying removal protections that survive the Trump v. Slaughter ruling—for example, requiring cause for removal plus a 60-day congressional notification period, or transferring appointment authority to a bipartisan commission. Short of legislation, the administration could nominate qualified candidates from both parties and seek Senate confirmation in a timely manner, preserving the bipartisan structure Congress intended. Instead, by firing the sitting commissioners without cause and allowing no lawful successors, the president has turned the EAC into a weapon: either it will be stacked with loyalists who can rig voting-machine certification in favor of a preferred outcome, or it will remain empty and unable to perform its statutory duties—both outcomes serve the goal of eroding public confidence in election administration. Citizens, voting-rights groups, and state election officials should demand immediate Senate oversight hearings and, if necessary, litigation under the Administrative Procedure Act to compel the EAC to operate.

President Trump's action is not merely a breach of tradition; it is a direct assault on the bipartisan architecture of election governance. In 2020, the EAC's testing and certification program was credited with helping states identify and replace vulnerable voting equipment. Without that capacity, the 2026 midterms will be conducted with less federal oversight, more partisan posturing, and a greater risk of deliberate dysfunction. If Democrats succeed in winning back control of Congress, one of their first acts should be to pass the Election Assistance Commission Independence Restoration Act, which would transfer removal protection from the president to a bipartisan commission and require that the EAC consist of a chair from a party different from the president's. Until then, every voter should understand that the neutral, expert agency Congress created to prevent another election crisis has been hollowed out by the very person who previously tried to overturn an election.