The Trump administration has dismantled the Election Assistance Commission, firing or forcing the resignation of all three sitting commissioners just months ahead of midterm elections. The move strips the bipartisan federal agency of its leadership and leaves it unable to function during one of the most consequential election cycles in recent history.
White House aide Morgan DeWitt Snow terminated the two Democratic commissioners, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin W. Hovland, via email on Thursday afternoon. Republican commissioner Christy McCormick was separately asked to resign by phone. A White House official confirmed all three are gone and said they will be replaced, though any new appointees must clear Senate confirmation, a process that typically takes months.
The EAC serves as the federal clearinghouse for election administration, certifying equipment used in voting, distributing grants to states for election security, and coordinating best practices among local officials. Between 2018 and 2025, the commission handed out more than $1 billion in election security funding. The agency's collapse comes as state and local election officials face mounting pressure ahead of the midterms in November.
Hovland learned of his termination while returning from a work trip to Missouri, receiving the news at an airport before a commercial flight home. He characterized the move as reckless, warning that stripping election officials of federal support and resources creates dangerous conditions for administering elections. "When you're asking more and more of people without giving them the necessary resources, mistakes happen," Hovland told NBC News.
The commission had already been weakened before this week. Republican Don Palmer resigned earlier this year, leaving the body with only three members instead of its normal complement of four. Matthew Weil, a vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center who previously worked at the EAC, noted that the agency was left without commissioners for three years beginning in 2011, a period when it was unable to fulfill core functions.
While staff members can continue some work like certifying voting equipment, commissioners are essential for adapting to emerging threats, setting policy direction, and maintaining relationships with state and local election officials. Without them, the EAC cannot effectively respond to evolving challenges or coordinate with the election administrators who depend on its guidance.
Critics from both the election administration community and Democratic officials have condemned the terminations as politically motivated and reckless. Adrian Fontes, Arizona's Democratic secretary of state, called it "irresponsible and dangerous" and said the move undermines nonpartisan election administration at a crucial moment. A source familiar with the firings described the timing and method as "purely political" and warned it will "throw the country into chaos" to lose a functioning federal election commission four months before the midterms.
Hovland said he hopes Americans will step in to help secure the integrity of elections by volunteering as poll workers in the coming months, filling a gap left by the absence of federal coordination and support for local election officials.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Gutting the Election Assistance Commission right before a midterm election is either spectacularly reckless or deliberately designed to create exactly the kind of chaos its critics fear, and there's no third option here."
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