election assistance commission eac

omfg ?

===

8 26

Election Assistance Commission - Wikipedia

The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent agency of the United States government created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). The Commission serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration. It is charged with administering payments to states and developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and accrediting voting system test laboratories and certifying voting equipment. It is also charged with developing and maintaining a national mail voter registration form.

Responsibilities

The EAC is tasked with performing a number of election-related duties including:^[1]

creating and maintaining the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines
creating a national program for the testing, certification, and decertification of voting systems
maintaining the National Mail Voter Registration Form required by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA)
reporting to Congress every two years on the effects of the NVRA on elections
administering federal funds to States for HAVA requirements
administering federal funds for the development of innovative election technology, including pilot programs to test election technology
studying and reporting best practices of effective administration
communicating information on laws, technologies, procedures, studies, and data related to the administration of federal elections to those responsible for formulating or implementing election law and procedures, to the media, and to other interested persons

The HAVA requires the EAC will create voluntary guidelines for voting systems, maintaining a clearinghouse of information regarding election administration procedures including testing and certification of election equipment, and administering the Election Assistance and Help America Vote Programs.

The EAC publishes the Election Administration and Voting Survey, a study examining how states administer federal elections, every two years.^[2]

History

In 2003, Congress appropriated US$1.5 billion for HAVA

...

Chair and commissioners

The Help America Vote Act specifies that four commissioners are nominated by the President on recommendations from the majority and minority leadership in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Once confirmed by the full Senate, commissioners may serve two consecutive terms and no more than two commissioners may belong to the same political party. The terms lasts for four years, but commissioners may continue serving after the expiration of their term until their successor has taken office. The Commission selects a chair and vice chair from among its members for a term of one year. The chair and vice chair may not be affiliated with the same political party. A member of the Commission can only serve one term as chair and vice chair each during each of their terms as members.^[12]

Current commissioners

As of July 9, 2026, there are no commissioners.^[8] In July 2026, with one empty seat, two of the three sitting commissioners were dismissed by the president and the remaining commissioner resigned, leaving the commission without a member.^[13]

...

Criticisms

Critics have contended that the EAC has responded positively to political pressure from the Republican Party and the Department of Justice. For example, the EAC is said to have overstated the problem of voter fraud, which is often cited by Republicans as a justification for restrictive measures that Democrats charge are intended to prevent qualified Democrats from voting.

The EAC Chair denied that there was any political pressure.^[21] Tova Wang, a consultant to the Commission, wrote a detailed account in The Washington Post about how her research and that of her Republican co-author had been disregarded or altered by the EAC, to produce a published report "that completely stood our own work on its head."

The changes included exaggerating the purported voter fraud issue and omitting references to charges of voter intimidation lodged by Democrats, as well as removing all criticisms of the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice that the report had incorporated.^[22]

In 2009, the United States Office of Special Counsel issued a report that found that the EAC engaged in political discrimination in federal hiring against an attorney to fill the General Counsel position because he was a Republican.^[23] The report was in response to a settlement between the attorney and the EAC, in which the attorney was paid an unspecified amount of money.^[24][25]

In 2019, an article in Politico reported that Newby had been the subject of extensive criticism from within and without the agency since his hiring in 2015, culminating in multiple calls for his resignation from Democratic members of the House and the Senate.^[26] Anonymous sources reported that Newby played a large role in many EAC staffers leaving, including the departure of Ryan Macias, the acting director of election testing and certification, as well as his predecessor, Brian Hancock. These departures "knocked the wind out of the technical sails of the EAC," said an anonymous voting security researcher.^[26]

Exacerbating the situation was the reporter's speculation of the partisan nature of Newby's hiring, with the article labeling him a Republican and the Commissioner who recommended his being hired, Christy McCormick, as well. In February 2016, Newby approved requests from three states to change state-specific instructions on the NVRA federal form related to proof of citizenship for voter registration.

These states required proof of citizenship by state law, a controversial policy being pushed by conservative GOP members such as Kris Kobach of Kansas, that would be used in support of Donald Trump's widely discredited claim that millions of illegal votes had been cast in the 2016 presidential election and had denied Trump a majority in the popular vote. An injunction was placed on the changes by a US Appeals court, although the case remained with the US District Court.^[26]

===

Trump fires all commissioners of federal election agency

President Donald Trump fired all three remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on Thursday, abruptly disabling the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration at a moment when Trump has sought to reshape federal voting rules.

The two Democratic commissioners, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, were notified by email. “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email said. It was signed by Morgan DeWitt Snow, deputy director of presidential personnel in the Executive Office of the President.

The third commissioner, Republican Christy McCormick, was allowed to resign, according to three sources within the agency. McCormick declined to comment when reached by phone. The agency’s fourth commissioner, Republican Donald Palmer, voluntarily departed the agency earlier this year to join the Heritage Foundation.

The firings leave the four-member commission with no commissioners, meaning it cannot take official action until new members are installed. They also come days after the Supreme Court granted the president power to fire leaders of independent agencies, weakening a legal framework that for decades had insulated bipartisan federal commissions from direct White House control.

The EAC was created by Congress after the 2000 election to help states improve election administration without federalizing elections.Its role is mostly supportive: distributing federal election funds, maintaining the national mail voter registration form, testing and certifying voting systems, and offering best practices and guidance to state and local election officials.

Trump cannot simply install replacement EAC commissioners on his own. Commissioners must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and no more than two can come from the same party.

A White House official defended the firings, saying, “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 official added that the administration has been working “across all agencies and local partners to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse” and to strengthen election infrastructure ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The EAC did not respond to a request for comment.

A possible legal test after Supreme Court rulings

The Supreme Court issued two major removal-power decisions at the end of its term in late June. In Trump v. Slaughter, the court overturned decades of precedent and said that the president may remove leaders of independent agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, which was the subject of the case.

In a separate case involving the Federal Reserve, however, the court recognized a different rule for Fed governors, pointing to the long historical independence of central banking institutions.

Whether bipartisan election agencies fall into the first category, the second, or some yet-undefined exception remains unresolved.

“It’s an open question about the EAC and the [Federal Election Commission],” said Rick Hasen, an election law professor at UCLA. “The question has not been tested as to whether political entities created with bipartisan balance might be subject to another exception.”

Earlier this year, Trump fired Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic commissioner on the FEC who had served for years in holdover status after her term expired. Weintraub did not sue, leaving unresolved whether the president can fire members of bipartisan election commissions at will.

If any of the fired EAC commissioners challenge their removals, the case could become the first direct test of whether the Supreme Court’s new removal-power doctrine extends to federal election agencies structured around bipartisan balance.

The Help America Vote Act, which created the EAC, says the president is supposed to consider recommendations from the Senate and House majority and minority leaders when nominating new EAC commissioners.

In practice, Hasen said, that means both parties typically work with the administration to identify nominees. But “that’s more a custom than something that’s in the statute itself.”

That means Trump could try to nominate Democrats acceptable to him, though they would still need Senate confirmation. HAVA does not appear to create a separate shortcut for temporary commissioners: Vacancies are filled “in the manner in which the original appointment was made,” meaning presidential appointment and Senate confirmation. A recess appointment could raise separate legal questions.

A bipartisan agency with no commissioners left

The EAC does not run elections or tell local officials how to run them, but the agency has long been politically contested. Congress designed it as a bipartisan commission, with no more than two members from the same party, but vacancies, partisan fights, and leadership turmoil have repeatedly limited its ability to act. Election officials and watchdogs have also criticized the agency at different points for failing to assert itself on election security, even as its responsibilities became more urgent after Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Hicks, the commission’s chair, had served on the EAC since 2014 and previously worked for Democrats on the House Administration Committee, which oversees federal election law and election administration. Hovland joined the commission in 2019 after being unanimously confirmed by the Senate and had previously served as acting chief counsel to the Senate Rules Committee and as a senior counsel on election matters.

McCormick had served on the EAC since 2014 and previously worked as a senior trial attorney in the voting section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

What happens while the EAC is frozen

The immediate practical effect is clear: The EAC cannot act.

That could stall not only routine commission business, but also any attempt by the Trump administration to use the agency to alter the federal voter registration form or voting-system standards before the 2026 midterms.The EAC also oversees the federal testing and certification program for voting systems, accrediting labs and certifying whether machines meet federal standards known as the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. Many states rely on that certification before allowing voting equipment to be purchased or used.

The EAC has been without a quorum before. For years, vacancies rendered the agency unable to perform major parts of its work, contributing to long delays in updating voting-system guidance. The agency regained stability only after the Senate confirmed new commissioners in 2019. UNDER TRUMP?

Now, with the 2026 election cycle underway, the agency is again frozen — this time not because commissioners resigned or terms expired, but because the president removed all of them at once.

Jessica Huseman is Votebeat’s editorial director and is based in Dallas. Contact Jessica at jhuseman@votebeat.org.

===

wtf? an 11 21 no lnx

https://www.eac.gov/

Chairman

Donald Palmer

Donald Palmer was nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by unanimous consent [that is NO VOTE?]of the United States Senate on January 2, 2019 to serve as an United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Commissioner.

Mr. Palmer currently serves as the Chairman of the (EAC) and he also serves as the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) of the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC).

Mr. Palmer is a former Bipartisan Policy Center Fellow where he advanced the recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. Mr. Palmer is a former Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections and served as the Commonwealth’s Chief Election Official from 2011 to 2014. During his tenure, he implemented an online voter registration system and joined Virginia as a founding member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonprofit organization with the sole mission of assisting states to improve the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration for all eligible citizens. He also served as Florida’s Director of Elections where he successfully transitioned the state from electronic voting machines to paper-based digital voting machines prior to the 2008 presidential election and expanded the Florida voting system state certification program. Prior to his work in election administration, he served as a trial attorney with the Voting Section in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, where he enforced the nation’s federal voting laws. Palmer is a military veteran, retiring from the U.S. Navy after two decades as an intelligence officer and judge advocate general.

Mr. Palmer earned his J.D. at the Stetson University College of Law and his master’s degree at George Washington University.

Vice Chair

Thomas Hicks

Commissioner

Christy McCormick BO

impressive resume DOJ ...Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Ms. McCormick served as a Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Elizabeth A. McClanahan in the Court of Appeals of Virginia from 2003 to 2006. Ms. McCormick was an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia from 2001 to 2003. She was a member of the U.S. Supreme Court legal teams for Black v. Virginia (defending the Commonwealth’s criminal statute against cross-burning) and Hicks v. Virginia (defending a 1st amendment challenge to a state trespassing policy), as well as in cases on appeal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. She was a Judicial Law Clerk in Virginia’s Seventh Judicial Circuit Court from 1999 to 2001.

Ms. McCormick received her B.A. from the University of Buffalo, a J.D. with honors from the George Mason University School of Law (now Antonin Scalia Law School), and also attended the William & Mary School of Law.

Commissioner

Ben Hovland

Benjamin Hovland was nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by unanimous consent of the United States Senate on January 2, 2019, to serve on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Commissioner Hovland serves as the Designated Federal Officer for the Standards Board.

Mr. Hovland's 20-year career in elections has been shaped by his commitment to improving election administration and removing barriers to voting. Most recently, he served as Acting Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, where he was a driving force behind Congress appropriating $380 million in Help America Vote Act funds to enhance election security to the states in 2018. While at the Senate, he focused on the federal government's role in election administration and campaign finance regulation. He organized several hearings on election security preparations and improving election administration. He was integral to restoring a quorum at the EAC in 2015.

Earlier in his career, as the Deputy General Counsel for the Missouri Secretary of State's office, he focused on legal issues related to the administration of state and federal elections, including recounts, poll worker training, voter registration list maintenance, statewide database matching, voter education resources, and ballot initiative litigation. Hovland was part of the team that developed a new voter-friendly web portal to help Missourians get registered, update their registration, and find their polling place. He also oversaw the development and implementation of a new voter education program, which alerted Missourians who appeared on the U.S. Postal Services' national change of address list that they may need to update their voter registration. The program resulted in hundreds of thousands of Missourians registering to vote or updating their registration. He also engaged with Pew Charitable Trust to explore ways to improve voter registration lists, resulting in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which is now utilized by over 20 states to make their voter rolls more accurate and reach out to millions of unregistered Americans.

As an attorney for the Fair Elections Legal Network, Hovland's energies were focused on protecting Americans' access to the ballot box. Thanks to his efforts, the court struck down a misleading ballot title that may have led to additional barriers to voter participation in Missouri, keeping it off the ballot. In Florida, he litigated to stop efforts to purge voters from the rolls based on inaccurate data matching in the lead-up to the election.

Commissioner Hovland received his B.A. from the University of Central Arkansas and his J.D. from the University of Oregon.

U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) announced Thursday that it has named Brianna Schletz as its next Inspector General. Brianna replaces former Inspector General Patricia Layfield, who retired from the post in March 2021, and will officially start at the EAC’s Office of Inspector General in November.

mayer https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/the-big-money-behind-the-big-lie

cleta Mitchell, who helped then-President Donald Trump try to overturn the election results in Georgia and later helped funnel funds to the pro-Trump "fraudit" in Arizona, has been named to the Board of Advisors of the federal Election Assistance Commission.

:{

The Election Assistance Commission (not to be confused with the Federal Election Commission, or FEC,) works with states on voting system guidelines, redistricting, cybersecurity, state voter files, voting by mail, and recounts and audits.

:{

Mitchell, a "fiercely partisan Republican election lawyer" whose work in years past included anti-LGBTQ efforts, was on the infamous call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger when Trump asked him to "find 11,780 votes," recorded audio revealed in January. The release of that tape led to Mitchell's resignation from her law firm, Foley & Lardner.

The news of Mitchell's appointment was reported by the editorial director of Votebeat:

:{

The Guardian's Sam Levine adds that Mitchell was also "involved in efforts to coordinate new voting restrictions in states this year," pointing to this damning Guardian article from April.

As Huseman notes, Mitchell told The New Yorker's Jane Mayer in August, "I don't think we can say with certainty who won" the 2020 presidential election, which is false.

Mitchell is a member of the secretive and "shadowy" far right wing Christian nationalist and plutocratic Council for National Policy. Among the group's alleged other members are Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk, Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, Liberty Counsel's Mat Stavers, and American Family Association's Tim Wildmon.

https://twitter.com/JessicaHuseman/status/1460647869904474114

apparently

@EACgov

Chairman Don Palmer and Cleta Mitchell spoke on a panel together at right wing elections conference this summer. :{https://:(style="border:0px solid black;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;white-space:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;min-width:0px"):}:exposedbycmd.org/2021/11/16/ale:{c-academy-featured-a-whos-who-of-voter-suppression-leaders/:(style="border:0px solid black;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;white-space:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;min-width:0px"):}:...

https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2021/11/16/alec-academy-featured-a-whos-who-of-voter-suppression-leaders/

The EAC does not have any direct control over who is on this board. The Help America Vote Act allows specific groups the ability to appoint them without review.

Quote Tweet

Election Asst. Comm.

@EACgov

Nov 15

The @EACgov issued the following statement regarding the Board of Advisors. https://eac.gov/news/2021/11/15/eac-statement-regarding-board-advisors

7:52 PM · Nov 15, 2021·Twitter Web App

Nov 15

Replying to

@JessicaHuseman

That said, it's not clear why this agency waited until 12 days after the appointment was official to tell anyone about it. United States Commission on Civil Rights didn't bother to announce it either.

Quote Tweet

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Nov 15

2/ She was appointed effective November 3, but the EAC just announced her nomination today — 12 days later — in an email to stakeholders. Her term lasts until 2023.

The EAC does not have any direct control over who is on this board. The Help America Vote Act allows specific groups the ability to appoint them without review.

Quote Tweet

Election Asst. Comm.

@EACgov

Nov 15

The @EACgov issued the following statement regarding the Board of Advisors. https://eac.gov/news/2021/11/15/eac-statement-regarding-board-advisors

7:52 PM · Nov 15, 2021·Twitter Web Ap

Nov 15

Replying to

@JessicaHuseman

Quote Tweet

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Nov 15

2/ She was appointed effective November 3, but the EAC just announced her nomination today — 12 days later — in an email to stakeholders. Her term lasts until 2023.

... The EAC does not have any direct control over who is on this board. The Help America Vote Act allows specific groups the ability to appoint them without review.

Election Asst. Comm.

@EACgov

Nov 15

The @EACgov issued the following statement regarding the Board of Advisors. https://eac.gov/news/2021/11/15/eac-statement-regarding-board-advisors

7:52 PM · Nov 15, 2021·Twitter Web App

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Nov 15

Replying to

@JessicaHuseman

Quote Tweet

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Nov 15

2/ She was appointed effective November 3, but the EAC just announced her nomination today — 12 days later — in an email to stakeholders. Her term lasts until 2023.

The EAC does not have any direct control over who is on this board. The Help America Vote Act allows specific groups the ability to appoint them without review.

Quote Tweet

Election Asst. Comm.

@EACgov

Nov 15

The @EACgov issued the following statement regarding the Board of Advisors. https://eac.gov/news/2021/11/15/eac-statement-regarding-board-advisors

7:52 PM · Nov 15, 2021·Twitter Web App

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Nov 15

Replying to

@JessicaHuseman

Quote Tweet

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Nov 15

2/ She was appointed effective November 3, but the EAC just announced her nomination today — 12 days later — in an email to stakeholders. Her term lasts until 2023.

david a no doc

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Nov 15

Also

@EACgov

appears to have put this out in a bit of a hurry. These are the Voluntary *Voting System Guidelines.

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Nov 15

It is honestly *quite* striking that this statement does not name Cleta Mitchell nor the organization who appointed her, and instead dances around her name entirely. The statement appears to be about nothing, read out of context of ... this obvious thing.

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Nov 15

Two democrats sit on the EAC commission and have the cover of a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President and they still have not said a *thing* about this.

It's a bit baffling?

Jessica Huseman

@JessicaHuseman

Apparently

@EACgov

Chairman Don Palmer and Cleta Mitchell spoke on a panel together at right wing elections conference this summer. https://exposedbycmd.org/2021/11/16/alec-academy-featured-a-whos-who-of-voter-suppression-leaders/

8:36 AM · Nov 16, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

Retweets

Quote Tweet

Likes

Fallen leafMaple leafLeaf fluttering in wind Billed cap

@satirehat

Nov 16

Replying to

@JessicaHuseman

and

@EACgov

@arapaho415

@clearing_fog

Arapaho415

@arapaho415

22h

Links to Nov 16, 2021:

1/ "While the July 26-28 [2021] session was ostensibly led by the dark money group Honest Elections Project, it was organized, hosted, and bankrolled by ALEC, despite repeated claims by its CEO, Lisa Nelson...

exposedbycmd.org

ALEC “Academy” Featured a Who’s Who of Voter Suppression Leaders - EXPOSEDbyCMD

While the July 26-28 session was ostensibly led by the dark money group Honest Elections Project, it was organized, hosted, and bankrolled by ALEC, despite repeated claims by its CEO, Lisa Nelson,...

Show replies

David Armiak

@duboo

https://t.co/rl8UDI7vpj?amp=1

23h

Replying to

@JessicaHuseman

and

@EACgov

Christy McCormick is another EAC Commissioner who floats around these voter suppression circles. She is often attending Republican Secretaries of State Committee meetings. See these minutes that I published for the piece cited above.

documentcloud.org

https://www.eac.gov/news/2021/11/15/eac-statement-regarding-board-advisors

for Immediate Release

November 15, 2021

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission issued the following statement:

The 2002 Help America Vote Act, which established the U.S Election Assistance Commission (EAC), also created a Board of Advisors to the EAC serving a variety of discretionary functions, including review of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines and other advisory duties. The EAC does not make or approve appointments to the 35-member Board of Advisors. Board members are directly appointed by a wide variety of organizations, including but not limited to the National Governors Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, United States Conference of Mayors, and the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

For questions surrounding the appointment of a member to the EAC Board of Advisors, please contact the appointing organization directly.

===

Alabama

Alabama HB 56, an anti-illegal-immigration bill co-authored by Kris Kobach and passed in 2011, required proof of citizenship to be presented by voters on Election Day.^[90] Much of the law was invalidated on appeal at various levels of appeals courts or voluntarily withdrawn or reworded.^[91][92][93]

In its 2014 Shelby County v. Holder decision, the Supreme Court of the United States allowed jurisdictions with a history of suppression of minority voters to avoid continuing to abide by federal preclearance requirements for changes in voter registration and casting of ballots.Within 24 hours of that ruling, Alabama implemented a previously-passed 2011 law requiring specific types of photo identification to be presented by voters. The state closed DMV offices in eight of ten counties which had the highest percentage black population, but only three in the ten counties with the lowest black population. In 2016, Alabama's Secretary of State (SOS) John Merrill began the process to require proof of citizenship from voters, despite Merrill saying he did not know of any cases where non-citizens had voted. Four-term Republican Representative Mo Brooks found that he himself had been purged from the rolls. Merrill also declined to publicize the passage of legislation that enabled some 60,000 Alabaman former felons to vote.^[94][95] Alabama's requirement regarding proof of citizenship had been approved by federal Election Assistance Commission Director Brian Newby.^[96]