Trump is gutting the Electoral Commission and thereby strengthening his influence in the midterm elections

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s latest attempt at an all-out war over the administration of elections has sparked enormous concern among voting rights activists.

As of Thursday evening, the US Election Support Commission has no members. The White House fired Democrats Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland in an email. Republican Christy McCormick resigned and GOP member Donald Palmer left earlier this year.

Trump’s move wipes out a four-member board for the time being created in 2002 after the chaos that dogged the 2000 presidential election. This result was due to the vote count in Florida, where the question of whether “hanging chads” on ballots counted or not was debated.

The commission law, signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002, aims to have the panel support states establish credible voter registration and voting systems.

Activists viewed Trump’s sudden firings as the latest and perhaps most threatening chapter in his efforts to influence elections in a way that opponents say will support his party in the fall midterm elections.

For them, it joins a growing list that includes extraordinary congressional map drawings in Republican-leaning states, a vigorous effort to require voters to show photo ID and proof of citizenship, and the Supreme Court’s restrictions on the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“Here we go again,” said a joint statement by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Rep. Joe Morelle, D-New York, after the commission’s decision was made public. They are the top Democrats on congressional committees that deal with voting rights.

“Firing commissioners just months before the midterm elections and further reducing support for our state and local election officials is an obvious part of his plan to politicize our elections and enable even more unlawful and dangerous election interference,” they said.

The White House insisted it was only interested in a fair election.

“From the beginning, the administration has worked with all agencies and local partners to protect elections from fraud and abuse and has invested in strong infrastructure to sustain that mission, particularly in the midterm elections,” a White House official, who did not want to be named, told States Newsroom in an email.

Trump’s election orders

To skeptics, Trump’s latest actions were part of an ongoing attempt to influence electoral processes – an attempt unprecedented in up-to-date times for a sitting president – that shows no signs of abating.

The Election Commission would not change the national voter registration form to include proof of citizenship, as Trump wanted. Trump issued an executive order requiring voters to show proof of citizenship, but a Federal judge blocked the attempt He said states and Congress have that authority.

He is also trying to restrict mail-in voting. The Supreme Court last month rejected an attempt to stop mail-in ballots from being counted after Election Day. Votes can be counted as long as they are postmarked by this day.

But the administration is attempting another legal challenge aimed at upholding Trump’s order requiring federal agencies to create a national list of documented adult U.S. citizens who can then vote.

The order also requires the U.S. Postal Service to establish a system for handling absentee ballots from the approved lists. A federal judge blocked the order. The case could end up before the Supreme Court later this year.

Can the SAVE America Act be saved?

When Congress returns to work from its July 4 recess on Capitol Hill on Monday, House Democrats will grapple with the question of how or whether to proceed with the proceedings SAVE America ActTrump’s attempt to require voters to show ID and proof of citizenship.

The bill is expected to go nowhere as it needs 60 votes in the 47-member Senate, which caucuses with Democrats.

However, Trump has put enormous pressure on his supporters to pass the bill. “Failure to pass the SAVE AMERICA ACT is CRAZY and a serious threat to any politician who votes against it!” he continued writing Truth Social Friday. He said he would not sign housing reform legislation that passed with a gigantic bipartisan majority in Congress last month in protest. Without his signature, the bill will come into force on Saturday at 12:01 a.m. anyway.

The SAVE America Act has paralyzed the House of Representatives as its supporters refused to allow members to consider other legislation until the chamber passes the bill.

Trump has become dynamic on other fronts. His administration supported a successful challenge to a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965a law that tore down decades-old barriers that prevented minority voters in the South from voting and gaining political influence.

The president also encouraged movements in conservative states to redraw district boundaries in Congress, which typically occurs after censuses in years ending in zero.

Instead, eight states, including Texas, have FloridaAlabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Missouri have have adjusted their maps this year in a way that is expected to support Republicans.

California and Utah have redrawn the maps to create more potential Democratic seats. But all changes, he said University of Virginia Center for PoliticsThey would have created “a Republican advantage of some size.”

Trump’s initiatives have sparked bitterness for and against.

“Democracy doesn’t disappear overnight, it erodes little by little. SCOTUS weakens the right to vote. Trump guts the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission and pushes the SAVE America Act to stifle voter registration and fair elections. We cannot be silent. We must resist.” Rep. He cries Mejia, DN.J.said on X.

Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Arizona.applauded Trump’s latest action.

“President Trump is right to clean up the Election Assistance Commission,” Hamadeh said on X.

“For too long it has enabled weak standards and defended vulnerable machines that led to irregularities in 2020 and 2022. Instead of addressing legitimate concerns with transparency and accountability, the EAC has seized the reins and politicized a sacred, bipartisan process,” he said.

Rigged elections?

At the heart of all these efforts is Trump’s long-held view that elections are too often rigged. He made this claim after the 2020 defeat, despite there being no evidence of major or non-existent fraud.

He was last alleged manipulation in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, where Republican Spencer Pratt failed to advance and was led by two Democrats. Here, too, there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

The Independent Election Support Commission Trump gutting the election helped bolster the credibility of elections by, as his description put it, “promoting safe, accurate, and accessible elections.”

The Center for Election Innovation and Research has found that “over the past 25 years, states have implemented several innovative policies that streamline the voter registration process, promote the accuracy of voter rolls, and create more opportunities for eligible citizens to register or update their voter registration.”

Changes include: more online voter registration, same-day voter registration and automatic voter registration. Forty-six states and Washington, DC exploit at least one of these methods, up from seven states in 2000.

Next Steps

That of the Commission The ability to effect change now appears to be narrow.

“Congress intentionally structured the Election Assistance Commission as a bipartisan agency to assist states in conducting free, fair, and secure elections,” he said Michael WaldmanPresident and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.

“These layoffs leave the agency without leadership and unable to fulfill its core responsibilities,” he said.

Trump is using the authority that the Supreme Court appears to have Give him a decision Last week it allowed him to fire members of independent agencies, except for Federal Reserve governors.

Trump would need to appoint two Democrats and two Republicans to the EAC, but they would need Senate confirmation.

Asked whether the president plans to make any appointments in the near future, the White House official said: “From the outset, the administration has worked with all agencies and local partners to protect elections from fraud and abuse and has invested in strong infrastructure to sustain that mission, particularly in the midterm elections.”