The federal agency that helps states run secure, accurate elections has effectively been shut down. On July 9, 2026, President Trump pushed out the last three members of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), leaving the bipartisan body with zero commissioners and unable to carry out its official duties just months before the 2026 midterms.
Democrats Benjamin Hovland and Thomas Hicks were fired outright. Republican Christy McCormick was allowed to resign. The outcome is the same either way: a commission built to be evenly split between the two parties now has no one seated at all.
What the Election Assistance Commission Actually Does
The EAC is not the Federal Election Commission, and the distinction matters. Congress created the EAC in 2003 through the Help America Vote Act, passed in the aftermath of the disputed 2000 presidential recount. Its mission is practical and largely behind the scenes: certifying voting systems, testing election equipment for security, distributing federal election funding to the states, and issuing voluntary guidelines that local officials rely on to keep their systems accurate and secure.
By law, the commission has four seats, split evenly between Republicans and Democrats so that no single party can control it. That bipartisan design was the whole point — an agency both sides could trust to referee the machinery of American elections. With every seat now vacant, the EAC cannot vote, cannot certify equipment, and cannot formally act on anything.
The Timing Is What Alarms Election Officials
Emptying a small federal agency might sound like a minor bureaucratic story. The timing is what has election administrators worried. The 2026 midterms are only months away, and states across the country lean on the EAC as a federal partner for equipment certification and security guidance during exactly this window of preparation.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes did not hold back, calling the move “irresponsible and dangerous” and warning that the administration is “dead set on causing chaos” ahead of the election. The decision was covered by NBC News, CNN, ProPublica, Votebeat, and Democracy Docket, all of which flagged the same core concern: the country is heading into a high-stakes election cycle with the one federal body dedicated to election administration knocked out of commission.
Two Very Different Readings
Supporters of the purge will frame it as trimming a small, obscure agency that most voters have never heard of. Critics see something far more serious: the quiet dismantling of the one federal institution designed to keep elections running smoothly, carried out with almost no public attention right as tens of millions of Americans prepare to cast ballots.
What This Means for Americans
For ordinary voters, the EAC is the kind of agency you never think about until it is gone. It works in the background to make sure the machines that count your vote have been tested and certified and that state election offices have the resources and guidance they need. Removing every commissioner months before a national election does not change the date you vote, but it does strip away a layer of federal oversight that was built specifically to protect the integrity of that vote — and it raises a pointed question about who benefits when election referees are sidelined at the worst possible moment.
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