White House Ousts 3 Election Commission Members 4 Months Before Midterms

Q: With its leadership gone, who now oversees America's voting machine standards before the upcoming midterm elections?

No one is currently exercising the Election Assistance Commission’s full commission-level oversight of U.S. voting machine standards. The EAC is the federal body that oversees voluntary voting system guidelines, testing and certification for voting machines. But with all sitting commissioners removed and another commissioner already set to depart, the agency is effectively without its decision-making leadership. That means it cannot take official commission actions on standards or related approvals until new commissioners are nominated and confirmed. In practice, the technical work does not disappear. The Technical Guidelines Development Committee, which helps develop the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines, remains the main expert body working on standards, and it is chaired by NIST acting director Craig Burkhardt. NIST also continues to provide technical support. But the TGDC is advisory, not a substitute for the commission itself, and it has been operating with major vacancies. So before the midterms, America’s voting machine standards are still institutionally housed at the EAC, with technical input from the TGDC and NIST, but there is no sitting commission leadership currently in place to formally oversee or act on them.

Q: After a key court ruling, which other independent government commissions could face a similar leadership overhaul?

After the Supreme Court’s *Trump v. Slaughter* ruling, other independent commissions with similar removal protections could also be vulnerable to a White House-led leadership shake-up. The clearest example is the Federal Trade Commission, which was at the center of the decision, but the ruling’s logic reaches well beyond the FTC. Legal analysts and the court’s dissent pointed to agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board, Federal Communications Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Merit Systems Protection Board as bodies that could face similar changes if their members are deemed to exercise executive power. The broader principle is that commissioners at independent agencies who were previously shielded by “for-cause” removal protections may now serve at the president’s discretion. That creates the possibility of rapid turnover at agencies that were designed to operate with a degree of insulation from direct presidential control. One major exception is the Federal Reserve. In a related decision, *Trump v. Cook*, the court signaled that the Fed’s distinct historical and statutory status preserves its independence for now, making it less likely to face the same kind of immediate overhaul.

2 articles · Updated · NBC News · Jul 10

Three sitting U.S. Election Assistance Commission members were removed Thursday, leaving the bipartisan agency without any commissioners just four months before the midterm elections.
The White House fired Democratic commissioners Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland by email and asked Republican Christy McCormick to resign, but any replacements would still need Senate confirmation.
The EAC helps states run elections by certifying voting equipment, sharing best practices and coordinating with local officials; from 2018 to 2025 it distributed more than $1 billion in election-security grants.
Former officials and Democratic election administrators warned the move could disrupt policy updates and coordination even if staff keep some operations running, reviving concerns seen during a three-year period without commissioners starting in 2011.