Trump Purges Election Assistance Commission, Dismantling Bipartisan Oversight
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President Donald Trump has ousted the two remaining Democratic commissioners from the Election Assistance Commission and allowed the last Republican to resign, effectively gutting the bipartisan agency and undermining election integrity.
In a brazen attack on democratic norms, President Donald Trump has dismissed the two Democratic commissioners of the Election Assistance Commission, Benjamin Hovland and Thomas Hicks, while permitting Republican commissioner Christy McCormick to resign. This calculated move eliminates all remaining members of the agency, according to multiple sources, and leaves the four-member board without the bipartisan structure essential for its operation.
Voter-rights groups and Democratic state election officials have sounded the alarm, warning that the agency’s ability to support state and local election officials has been deliberately sabotaged. 'The EAC plays a critical role in supporting state and local election officials,' said Cisco Aguilar, Nevada secretary of state and chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State. 'Now, it will again fall on Secretaries of State and other election administrators to fill the gap left by this reckless decision.'
The White House, refusing transparency, declined to confirm the specifics but claimed the president '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.' This rhetoric thinly veils a partisan power grab, as the administration insists it is working across agencies and local partners to 'safeguard' elections ahead of the midterms.
The Election Assistance Commission, established in 2003 to set standards for voting systems and distribute federal funds for upgrades, was designed to be balanced between the two major parties. Members are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The fourth commissioner, Republican Don Palmer, resigned in April, and now Trump’s dismissals clear the way for him to stack the commission with loyalists.
In March 2025, Trump escalated his assault on voting rights by issuing an executive order forcing the commission to modify the national voter registration form to require proof of U.S. citizenship—a move long championed by far-right groups like America First Legal. Despite a public comment period with hundreds of thousands of responses, the commission had not yet voted on the proposal.
The Bipartisan Policy Center condemned these departures as a devastating blow to one of the last federal institutions built for bipartisan governance, warning of the grave consequences for American democracy.