Trump removes Election Assistance Commission members: Why this matters ahead of US midterms

The EAC is an independent, bipartisan commission that does not conduct elections itself. Its central task is helping states meet HAVA’s requirement of replacing unreliable voting equipment and modernising how elections are run, which it does by issuing guidance, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and acting as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration.

Among other functions, the commission also accredits the laboratories that test voting equipment, certifies voting systems before they are used, and audits how states spend federal HAVA funds.

Its four seats are filled by presidential nominees confirmed by the Senate, and by law, no more than two commissioners can belong to the same party.

What has Trump ordered?

The firings brought into focus a Supreme Court judgment delivered on June 29. The case of Trump v. Slaughter arose after Trump fired a Federal Trade Commission member, Rebecca Slaughter, last year without citing any wrongdoing on her part.

In a 6-3 ruling, the court held that presidents can remove heads of independent regulatory agencies at will, overturning Humphrey’s Executor — a 1935 precedent that had protected such officials from being fired without cause for nearly nine decades.

A White House official cited that ruling as legal grounds for the EAC firings, saying the administration believes the president can remove individuals it sees as not fully committed to securing US elections.

The move comes as Trump has repeatedly questioned the outcome of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, without evidence. He and his top administration officials also advocated for changing the vote-by-mail requirements.

His administration had earlier issued an executive order in 2025, directing the EAC to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, though courts blocked its main provisions.

With the EAC frozen, what will happen next?

With no commissioners left, the EAC cannot legally take any official action, such as issuing guidance or certifying voting equipment, until Trump names replacements and the Senate confirms them. Trump cannot install commissioners on his own because HAVA requires nominees to go through the Senate.

This is not the first time the agency has been left without a working board. Vacancies left the EAC without a quorum for years earlier, delaying updates to voting-system guidance, until the Senate confirmed a fresh set of commissioners in 2019. This time, however, the agency is frozen not because the terms expired, but because the president removed everyone at once.

It is also part of a larger pattern under Trump, concerning removals of officials he disagrees with. He had earlier fired a Democratic member of the Federal Election Commission, Ellen Weintraub. Democratic lawmakers and voting rights groups have criticised the terminations.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner said reports of the White House dismissing every remaining EAC commissioner, including one Trump himself appointed, should “concern every American, regardless of party.” He called the timing, months before the 2026 midterms, an extraordinary step demanding immediate explanation from the administration.

Whether that move can be legally challenged remains unclear. Rick Hasen, a law and political science professor at UCLA, wrote on the Election Law Blog that it remains an open question whether the EAC and the Federal Election Commission fall under the Supreme Court’s new removal-power ruling, since bipartisan-balance agencies “might be subject to another exception” that hasn’t been tested.

He added that the bigger question is what Trump might now attempt with a commissioner-less EAC, such as directing it to unilaterally add a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form — something his first voting executive order tried and courts blocked. Trying this again, Hasen wrote, would trigger high-stakes litigation likely reaching the Supreme Court’s emergency docket this summer.