Trump Ousts Election Commission Members in Voting Overhaul

President Donald Trump has fired all remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a bipartisan federal agency created by Congress in 2002 to help states administer elections, leaving the commission without any commissioners and unable to take official action just months before the 2026 midterm elections.

The White House confirmed the firings on July 10, citing the Supreme Court’s landmark June 29 ruling in Trump v. Slaughter, which granted the president broad authority to remove leaders of independent federal agencies without cause. The move represents the first concrete application of that ruling to a federal election agency and signals the administration’s intent to aggressively reshape how elections are administered across the United States.

What Happened

According to Votebeat, which first broke the story, Democratic commissioners Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland were notified of their termination via email signed by Morgan DeWitt Snow, deputy director of presidential personnel. Republican commissioner Christy McCormick was allowed to resign. A fourth Republican commissioner, Donald Palmer, had voluntarily departed earlier in April to join the Heritage Foundation.

“The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted. The Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so,” a White House official told AP News.

The Legal Foundation

The firings were enabled by the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Trump v. Slaughter, which overturned Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935), a 91-year-old precedent that had protected commissioners of independent agencies from at-will presidential removal. The ruling held that a subordinate who exercises the president’s power is subject to removal by him and that Congress cannot require cause for removal.

However, election law experts note that the EAC may qualify for a separate exception due to its bipartisan structure. “It’s an open question about the EAC and the Federal Election Commission,” Rick 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.”

Immediate Impact on the 2026 Midterms

Most experts agree the midterm elections themselves will proceed normally because elections are administered by state and local officials, not the EAC. The commission does not run elections or certify results. However, the practical consequences of a frozen EAC are significant.

The agency can no longer distribute federal grants to state and local election offices, test and certify voting systems, update the national voter registration form, or adopt new Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. State election officials across party lines may face increased pressure and resource gaps as a result.

David Becker, a former Department of Justice attorney who runs the Center for Election Innovation & Research, downplayed the immediate impact, writing on BlueSky: “This doesn’t really change anything about how our elections will be run, and how states are successfully ensuring secure, convenient, safe elections.”

Political Reactions

The firings drew sharp condemnation from Democratic leaders. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “a brazen attempt to seize control of our elections before a single vote is cast.” Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Joe Morelle issued a joint statement accusing Trump of trying to “dismantle yet another independent guardrail of our democracy.”

State election officials also voiced alarm. Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar called the move “incredibly irresponsible,” while Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read described it as “dangerous, reckless, and frankly desperate.”

What Comes Next

It remains unclear whether Trump will nominate new commissioners, a process that requires Senate confirmation. Leaving the positions vacant would prevent the EAC from functioning entirely. The fired commissioners could also challenge their dismissals in court, potentially creating a test case for whether the EAC qualifies for a bipartisan exception to the Trump v. Slaughter ruling.

The EAC firings are the latest in a broader pattern of Trump administration actions to reshape election administration, including executive orders on elections (largely blocked by courts), threats to states about purging noncitizen voter rolls, and prior firings at the Federal Election Commission and Federal Trade Commission. The long-term erosion of bipartisan election infrastructure could have significant implications for the 2028 presidential election.

As the midterms approach, the question of who will oversee federal election support — and whether the EAC will ever regain its bipartisan structure — remains deeply uncertain.