Trump Removes Remaining Members of the Election Assistance Commission

What happened

On July 9, 2026, President Trump removed the remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. NPR reported that he "relieved the remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission," described the body as "bipartisan," and noted the action came "with just months until the midterms" and was "condemned by Democrats and voting rights advocates" (NPR). The Hill characterized the action as firing "the remaining Democratic members of the Election Assistance Commission on Thursday" and referred to the body as an "independent election board" (The Hill, The Hill).

Votebeat reported that Trump "fired all three sitting EAC members (Thomas Hicks, Benjamin Hovland, and Christy McCormick), leaving the federal election oversight agency without any commissioners," and that the commission is now "vacant and non-functional following the firing of its members" (Votebeat). The accounts differ on whether the removals targeted "the remaining Democratic members" (The Hill) or all sitting commissioners (Votebeat); the payload available to this entry does not resolve that discrepancy.

Democratic strategist David Axelrod wrote on social media that "all the signals are flashing red, the latest being [the President's] summary dismissal of the remaining Federal Election Assistance Commission members" (The Hill).

The record so far

The accumulated record on the elections indicator now contains three executive-branch actions touching federal election administration. On March 25, 2025, the President signed an executive order directing changes to federal election administration, including documentary proof of citizenship and a requirement that mail ballots be received by Election Day; the order, as reported, "asserted authority over areas of election administration the Constitution assigns primarily to states and Congress," and several provisions faced immediate legal challenges (White House / reported). On March 31, 2026, a further order directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to compile an approved list of absentee voters eligible to receive mail ballots (Politico). The removal of the commission's members follows those two orders on the same indicator rather than appearing as an isolated development; this is the continuation of an existing line in the record, not a new thread.

On the co-moving check: the only indicator with a standing-reading change in the last 90 days is toleration of political violence (pattern), tied to the January 6 clemency grants: a distinct matter that does not bear on election administration. No election-adjacent indicator has moved, and the elections indicator's standing reading remains precedented, reflecting that no confirmed manipulation of election administration is documented in the current record.