The President on Thursday fired the two Democratic members of the commission, Chairman Thomas Hicks and former Chairman Benjamin Hovland, the latter of whom was nominated by Trump himself during his first term. Republican Commissioner Christy McCormick also resigned, a White House official confirms to TIME.
The White House official tells TIME that Trump “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.”
They add that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. Slaughter “gives the President precedence to do so.” That ruling, issued by the Court last month, expanded the President’s power to fire the leaders of independent agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission at will.
Trump has long touted false claims that U.S. elections are mired with widespread fraud and abuse, and has drawn on that baseless narrative to aggressively push for restricting practices such as mail-in voting and imposing stricter identification requirements for voters.
The EAC is a bipartisan, independent agency that assists in administering elections.
Of the EAC’s four total commissioner seats, only two may be filled by commissioners belonging to the same political party. The President nominates EAC commissioners, and they must be confirmed by a simple majority vote in the Senate.
Like other independent agencies, the EAC is designed to operate outside the direct control of the President or his Cabinet secretaries and maintain a degree of autonomy from the executive branch.
Trump’s ousters draw backlash
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said that Trump’s move “should concern every American, regardless of party, because the EAC was established by Congress as an independent, bipartisan body to help states administer secure and credible elections.”
Sen. Alex Padilla of California and Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the ranking members of two congressional committees that oversee election policies, released a joint statement in the wake of the ousters, accusing Trump of “trying to dismantle yet another independent guardrail of our democracy designed to keep elections fair and secure” and calling the decision “a blatant part of his plan to politicize our elections and enable more unlawful and dangerous election interference.”
Trump’s actions also met with outcry from voting and public policy organizations.
“This extraordinary action strips the EAC of its bipartisan leadership at a moment when election officials need support, stability, and protection from political pressure,” the statement continued.
Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice, called the terminations “deeply concerning in light of President Trump’s relentless efforts to try to interfere in elections,” noting that they “leave the agency without leadership and unable to carry out its major responsibilities.”
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