removes

The dismissals leave the federal election body vacant as Trump presses for broader changes to US voting rules.

President Donald Trump has removed the last remaining members of an independent federal commission that helps support United States elections, leaving the bipartisan body with no sitting commissioners.

The White House confirmed the news on Friday, with only months to spare before November’s midterm elections.

“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,” the White House said in a statement.

It added that the administration had been “working across all agencies and local partners to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse” in the run-up to the midterms.

The decision concerns the Election Assistance Commission (ECA), an independence office created by Congress in 2002 to support state and local election officials. Among its duties are creating non-binding election guidelines, certifying voting systems and maintaining the national mail voter registration form.

Four commissioners typically helm the agency. But on Thursday, the two Democratic appointees — Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland — were fired by email, according to the news agency Reuters.

The lone remaining Republican, Christy McCormick, resigned. A fourth commissioner, Republican appointee Donald Palmer, had already left in April.

The commission is required by law to be made up evenly of Democrats and Republicans, and it was put in place to help after the disputed 2000 presidential election.

Trump’s decision to fire the remaining commissioners has further raised concerns that he may seek to intervene in the upcoming midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress for the rest of his term.

Under the US Constitution, election administration is the responsibility of the state, not the federal government.

The Election Assistance Commission had previously declined to implement part of Trump’s March 2025 executive order that called upon it to require proof of citizenship on the national mail voter registration form.

A federal judge later blocked that part of that executive order, ruling the president had exceeded his authority. Trump has appealed the ruling.

Voters are already required to affirm their citizenship before voting, as non-citizen voting is illegal in the US. Instances of non-citizen voting are rare.

The firings are the latest in a broader effort by the president to reshape how elections are conducted.

The Trump administration has pushed to tighten vote-by-mail rules and threatened to withhold some federal funding from states that refuse to adopt new election requirements. Many of those efforts have been challenged in court.

Earlier this week, the administration also sent out letters warning election officials that they could face prosecution if they fail to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.

Trump has defended the actions as necessary to protect election integrity. He has repeatedly claimed that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election was the result of fraud, a claim not backed by evidence.

The latest firings come after the US Supreme Court last month expanded the president’s power to fire members of independent agencies, even without cause.

The court ruled six to three in Trump’s favour, arguing that “neither Congress nor the courts may saddle” the president with executive-branch leaders he does not approve of.

The president is allowed by law to appoint replacements to the commission. It is not yet clear whether Trump plans to nominate replacements or leave the seats vacant.

July 10 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has reportedly fired the three remaining members of an independent, bipartisan commission that helps states administer elections, intensifying Democratic concerns that he is trying to interfere in November’s midterm elections.

Trump fired the Election Assistance Commission’s two Democrats, Benjamin Hovland and Thomas Hicks, while allowing its Republican commissioner, Christy McCormick, to resign on Thursday, according to The New York Times, NPR and ProPublica, which was the first to report on the development.

With the exit of the three commissioners, the commission has no sitting members. Republican Commissioner Donald Palmer resigned in late April.

The EAC was established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 in response to issues surrounding the 2000 election. Its mission is to improve the administration of elections and help Americans participate in the voting process, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The midterm elections have loomed large over Trump’s second term. He has repeatedly warned that Democratic impeachment proceedings and investigations would follow Republicans losing the House, which they hold by a narrow 218-212 majority.

Trump has sought to influence the outcome by pushing Republican-led states to conduct unorthodox mid-decade redistricting to create additional GOP-favored seats, setting off a redistricting fight with Democrats. The president, who wrongly maintains that the 2020 election was stolen from him, has also repeatedly voiced skepticism over the integrity of U.S. elections, pushing legislation to impose stringent voting restrictions that critics say would disenfranchise voters.

Democrats and critics have been warning that Trump is trying to undermine the upcoming midterm elections and create a pretext for his administration to intervene. They say the hollowing out of the EAC removes election expertise and oversight from the process.

“Firing every remaining member of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission months before the midterms is a brazen attempt to seize control of our elections before a single vote is cast,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

“He is gutting the independent agency that certifies voting systems and helps election officials run secure elections.”

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, and Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, called the firings illegal.

“Trump continues to double down on his efforts to erode trust in our elections, undermine independent oversight and further his administration’s attempt to ‘take over’ elections,” the Democratic pair said in a statement, referencing Trump’s repeated calls for Republicans to “take over” the election process.

“Americans deserve elections that are safe, secure and run free from political interference — not overseen by partisan loyalists and election deniers beholden to Trump.”

Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, described the ousting as “deeply concerning” given “Trump’s relentless efforts to interfere in elections.”

“Until bipartisan replacements are confirmed, the agency cannot lawfully make any decisions that affect how Americans vote,” he warned in a statement.

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