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.

  • kingofras@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    The EAC supports elections but doesn’t run them, states and counties do that. So firing all its members freezes a federal support office, not the election machinery itself.

    Think of it as the standards lab that certifies equipment and hands out funds, not the referee on the field. The main effects:

    • Frozen certification of new voting machines (existing ones stay valid). So new companies can’t provide new equipment. Possibly means ‘the fix is in’ by Musk or associates

    • No rule changes to the federal registration form — which also blocks the administration from adding things like proof-of-citizenship before November. So this looks more like the regime is shooting it’s own foot here.

    • Stalled grants and guidance to states.

    Bottom line: it’s closer to paralysis than takeover, and it doesn’t change how you vote. The real open question is legal — whether firing bipartisan election commissioners survives a court challenge… if it is ever challenged in court by the dormant democrats.

    • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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      14 days ago

      This needs to be higher. Misleading headlines can cause people to panic, and do more harm than good.

      What’s happening is certainly a bad thing, and alarming, and corrupt, but all is not lost. We still need to vote (and can!).

      Context matters.

        • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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          13 days ago

          It’s more like screaming and causing a panicked stampede in a crowded pedestrian area because someone got hit by a car on an adjacent crosswalk. The panic will do more harm, more people will die in the stampede. Do something about the car running someone over, get the victim medical attention and apprehend the driver, but don’t suddenly tell everyone “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!” Cause that’s not going to help anything and can only cause more damage.

            • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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              13 days ago

              Go ahead, I don’t care. You have literally nothing worthwhile to say.

              You’re the one who replied to me anyway, so blocking me won’t do a damn thing. You could always try shutting the fuck up and crying in your own corner where your despondency won’t infect anyone else.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      which also blocks the administration from adding things like proof-of-citizenship before November.

      You think that’s going to stop them? lol. You must be new around here. They broke it so they can “fix” it the way they always wanted it.

      And they already won the court case. It was earlier this week at SCOTUS.

      I’m not going to be surprised when they declare this election a horrible loss due to illegal voting in blue states no matter what the outcome is. Then they’ll use the noncompliance with illegal demands and lack of a federal oversight committee to declare an emergency around late October 2028.

      • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        they declare this election a horrible loss

        What does that even mean tho? They declare random bullshit all the time and we all go “that’s nice dear” and get back to whatever we were doing already. What’s their plan after making this declaration?

    • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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      14 days ago

      This is what I was thinking as well, either there’s something that the EAC was expected to do which he’s trying to prevent or he just decided to fire people he doesn’t like regardless of the consequences to himself

      On an unrelated note: I would avoid doing bullet points followed by a sentence starting with “bottom line” or any similar turn of phrase. That’s a common format LLMs spit out. The actual contents of your comment read human written and have plenty choices of phrase that I don’t see coming out of an LLM, so I figured I’d point it out

      • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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        13 days ago

        No one’s saying that at all. This commenter is only providing context to mitigate the sensationalist headlines crafted to cause panic and despair.

        Unless you have something more constructive to say then I suggest you stop.