Trump fires last 3 bipartisan election commission members ahead of November midterms

Voter advocacy groups, Democratic state election officials call move 'reckless and irresponsible,' according to report

US President Donald Trump has pushed out the last three remaining members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission (EAC), according to a Thursday report by ProPublica.

Sources told ProPublica that Trump fired Benjamin Hovland and Thomas Hicks, the remaining two Democrats on the commission, and that Republican member Christy McCormick was allowed to resign. The fourth commissioner, Republican Don Palmer, resigned in April.

The move now leaves the agency without any bipartisan guidance, as Trump rushes to overhaul the election process before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

Voter advocacy groups and Democratic state election officials called the move "reckless and irresponsible".

"The EAC plays a critical role in supporting state and local election officials," Cisco Aguilar, Nevada's secretary of state and chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, said in a statement. "It will again fall on Secretaries of State and other election administrators to fill the gap".

A White House official said in a statement to ProPublica that the president "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 Administration from the start has been working across all agencies and local partners to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse, and investing in a strong infrastructure to sustain that mission, especially in the midterm elections," the official added.

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The commission was established in 2003 to set standards for state voting systems and to provide funding for upgrades. The four-member board was divided into an even split of two Republicans and two Democrats, all nominated by the president at the recommendation of Congress and confirmed by the Senate.

With all four members of the commission resigning or being dismissed, Trump is now able to try to push for replacements who may align with the president's views and be persuaded by his demands, according to ProPublica's report.

In March 2025, Trump issued a sweeping executive order directing the commission "to change the national voter registration form, which serves as the template for the forms in each state, to require proof of US citizenship to register to vote," according to the report.

Voters in almost every US state currently attest to their citizenship and are required to present a valid driver's license or state identification card when they vote under penalty of perjury, but they are not required to provide proof of US citizenship.

The commission was expected to hold a vote on Trump's petition to change the form to include proof of citizenship, receiving hundreds of thousands of comments from voters on the changes. But now that all four members are no longer with the commission, there is uncertainty about the next step ahead of the midterm elections.

The Bipartisan Policy Center, a group that advocates on election issues, told ProPublica that the departures are a "significant loss for one of the federal government's few institutions explicitly designed around bipartisan governance".