Last night, President Donald Trump effectively relieved all three serving commissioners of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) of their positions. According to media reports, the Commission’s two Democratic members, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, were fired by email, while the one Republican member, Christy McCormick, was allowed to resign. All three commissioners were unanimously confirmed by the Senate – Hicks and McCormick in 2015 and Hovland in 2019. The EAC’s fourth commissioner and other Republican member, Don Palmer, previously resigned on April 29. In a statement to media, the White House referenced last week’s Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Slaughter, stating: “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 and ensuring every legal vote is counted. The Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so.”
The EAC is a bipartisan, independent commission that was established by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002. It requires an affirmative vote by at least three of its commissioners to conduct official business or establish policy. Historically, the EAC has operated for extended periods without a quorum and for several years had zero sitting commissioners.
Since the EAC was created, the commissioners have worked in partnership with state and local election officials to advance the professionalization and integrity of the election profession. A fully functioning EAC is critical for promulgating the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) to certify voting equipment, serving as a clearinghouse of best practices and training support, disbursing HAVA Election Security Grants, and compiling the biennial Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) report.
So what does it mean for this Commission to have no commissioners? In the absence of the Senate confirming new commissioners – by law the EAC must have partisan balance and congressional leaders are tasked with making recommendations to the President – some business can and will continue.
Significantly, the EAC staff has authority to continue disbursing Election Security Grants to states – the primary source of federal election funding – and to continue certifying voting equipment under current standards. Below is an overview of who holds the remaining limited EAC authority and what that authority does and does not encompass.
Who is Left With Authority When the EAC Has No Commissioners?
With no commissioners, the agency’s authority will go to the EAC Executive Director, who has limited authority to continue running EAC operations as outlined in the EAC’s Roles and Responsibilities policy. If there is no Executive Director, the staff line of succession under law and policy is as follows:
- General Counsel
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Financial Officer
Career agency staff generally are given delegated authority to maintain existing programs, manage administrative duties, and carry out strictly routine tasks.
What CAN Happen Now?
Despite the lack of commissioners, the agency remains functional under the leadership of career staff. Actions that can continue include the following:
Disbursing Existing Funds: Congress has appropriated election security grant funding in recent years under the existing statutory language of HAVA and previous appropriations language. Though insufficient to meet state needs, Congress appropriated $45 million in FY2026 funding earlier this year, down from a high of $425 million in 2020 through the CARES Act and $380 million in FY2018. Agency staff can continue to disburse appropriated HAVA grant funds to states, including future congressional appropriations, provided those appropriations follow the parameters of the existing grant program.
Voting System Certification: The staff is explicitly authorized in the EAC Roles and Responsibilities policy to continue managing the testing and certification of voting systems based on the existing guidelines. This means states that replace equipment to be in alignment with VVSG 2.0 in advance of the 2028 election will still be able to source certified, new equipment.
Clearinghouse Duties: The EAC can maintain its role as a national clearinghouse for election administration. Staff can continue to maintain websites, publish best practices, conduct research, and administer the National Voter Registration form.
Public Meetings: The EAC can still hold public meetings and hearings without a quorum to gather information or hear from experts, though they cannot execute any votes during these meetings.
Functioning Advisory Boards: The EAC’s advisory boards – the Standards Board, the Board of Advisors, and the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) – can remain active and functional without commissioners.
What CANNOT Happen Now?
When the EAC lacks the necessary three members to vote as a board, staff authority is frozen at the outer limit of the last valid Commission approval. Staff may execute existing programs but may not expand their scope, change standards, or create new programs absent renewed three-member approval.
The following EAC actions cannot happen without EAC commissioners:
Establishing New Programs, Policies, or Guidelines: The EAC cannot adopt, update, or fully approve new updates to Commission guidelines such as the VVSG (for example, establishing VVSG 2.1 standards). The EAC also cannot generally establish new programs or modify the scope of existing policies or programs, such as by adding additional conditions on HAVA grants. Staff and working groups can still collect data and draft recommendations, but they would be stalled without a commissioner vote.
Decertification Appeals: While staff can handle the routine certification and decertification of voting systems, they cannot process formal voting system decertification appeals.
Hiring Executive Leadership: A quorum of commissioners is legally required by HAVA to hire a new executive director or general counsel.
What Does This Mean for 2026 and Beyond?
The EAC, like the rest of the federal government, does not administer U.S. elections. The President’s summarily firing the bipartisan EAC commissioners is unprecedented, but this action gives the federal government no more authority over elections than it had before. State and local elections administrators across more than 10,000 jurisdictions are working to ensure there are safe and secure elections this fall and in the future. The President’s decision – coupled with previous administration action to severely scale back election security resources from the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency – will further deprive these hardworking and under-resourced offices, but they will continue to do what they must to get the job done.
