WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has terminated the last three members of the Election Assistance Commission, the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide, the White House has confirmed.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission were forced out of the commission on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other two Democratic appointees were fired via an email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office.

The fourth commissioner departed the commission in April. The terminations follow the recent Supreme Court decision that granted the president more power to fire members of independent agencies, and a push by Trump for more federal intervention in voting processes, traditionally the purview of the states, as mid-term elections approach in November. The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearing house of information on election administration,” accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail voter registration form developed by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

It was established by Congress in 2002 through the Help America Vote Act. The four commissioners are appointed by the president, are required to be evenly split with two Democrats and two Republicans, and ultimately need to be confirmed by the US Senate. The three remaining commissioners who were forced out, Thomas Hicks, Benjamin Hovland and Christy McCormick, were all unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said the terminations should “concern every American, regardless of party.”

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2026