Trump is criticizing the election commission’s move, seen as increasing his influence in the midterms

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s latest shot at the ruthless war over how elections are administered has sparked great concern among voting rights activists.

As of Thursday evening, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission there are no members. The White House rejected Democrats Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland in an email. Republican Christy McCormick resigned and GOP Rep. Donald Palmer left earlier this year.

For now, Trump’s move is discouraging to the four-member board created in 2002 after the chaos that accompanied the 2000 presidential elections. This result came down to the vote count in Florida, where the debate was over whether or not “hanging chads” on ballots were counted.

The commission’s legislation, signed by President George W. Bush in 2002, is intended to allow the panel to facilitate states establish reliable voter registration and voting systems.

Activists saw Trump’s sudden firings as the latest and perhaps most ominous chapter in his efforts to influence the election in a way that opponents say will facilitate his party in the fall midterms.

For them, it becomes part of a growing list that includes emergency congressional mapping in Republican-leaning states, dogged efforts to require voters to provide photo ID and proof of citizenship, and the Supreme Court’s curtailment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

“Here we go again,” A said joint statement by Senator Alex Padilla of California and Representative Joe Morelle of New York after the committee’s decision was made public. These are the top Democrats on congressional committees dealing with voting rights.

“Purging commissioners months before the midterm elections and continuing to gut support for our state and local officials is a blatant part of his plan to politicize our elections and enable more unlawful and dangerous election interference,” they said.

The White House insisted it was only interested in a fair election.

“The Administration has worked with all agencies and local partners from the beginning to protect elections from fraud and abuse, and has invested in robust infrastructure to sustain that mission, particularly in the midterm elections,” a White House official, who asked not to be identified, told States Newsroom in an email.

Trump’s election orders

For skeptics, Trump’s latest action was part of an ongoing effort to influence election procedures – an effort unheard of by a sitting president these days – that shows no sign of abating.

The elections board would not, as Trump wanted, change the national voter registration form to include proof of citizenship. Trump issued an executive order requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship, but a a federal judge blocked the attempt, saying that the states and Congress have that power.

He is also trying to limit postal voting. Last month, the Supreme Court rejected a proposal to ban the counting of mail-in votes after Election Day. Votes can count as long as they are sent by that date.

But the administration is filing another court challenge seeking to uphold Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to compile a national list of documented adult U.S. citizens who could then vote.

Under the order, the U.S. Postal Service would establish a system for handling mail-in votes from approved lists. A federal judge blocked the order. The case may go to the Supreme Court later this year.

Can the SAVE America Act be saved?

On Capitol Hill, when Congress returns to work Monday after its July 4 recess, House lawmakers will consider how and whether to proceed with the procedure SAVE America ActTrump’s attempt to require voters to show proof of identity and citizenship.

The bill is expected to go nowhere because it needs 60 votes in the 47-member Senate debating with Democrats.

Trump, however, put enormous pressure on supporters to advance the bill. “Not passing the SAVE AMERICA ACT is CRAZY and a serious threat to any politician who votes against it!” he continued writing Real Social Friday. He made clear that he would not sign the housing reform bill that passed Congress with a gigantic bipartisan majority last month in protest. Without his signature, the act will enter into force at 12:01 on Saturday.

The SAVE America Act paralyzed the House because its supporters refused to allow members of the Legislature to consider any other legislation until the House passed the bill.

Trump is moving on other fronts. His administration supported a successful challenge to a key provision of Art Voting Rights Act of 1965a law that eliminated decades-old barriers that prevented minority voters in the South from voting and gaining political influence.

The president also galvanized movements in conservative states to redraw congressional district boundaries, which is typically done after censuses in years ending in zero.

Instead, eight states, including Texas, FloridaAlabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Missouri they adjusted their maps this year in a way that is designed to facilitate Republicans.

California and Utah redrawn their maps to create more potential Democratic seats. But all changes, he said University of Virginia Policy Centercreated “a Republican advantage of some size.”

Trump’s initiatives have sparked bitterness for and against.

“Democracy doesn’t disappear overnight, it’s eroding bit by bit. SCOTUS is weakening voting rights. Trump is gutting the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission and pushing the SAVE America Act to suppress voter registration and fair elections. We cannot remain silent. We must stand up.” Rep. He cries Mejia, DN.J.he said in X

Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz.praised Trump’s latest action.

“President Trump is right to clean up at the Election Assistance Commission,” Hamadeh said on the X show.

“For too long, it has enabled weak standards and protected vulnerable machines that fueled misconduct in 2020 and 2022. Instead of addressing legitimate concerns about transparency and accountability, the EAC has circled the wagons and politicized a sacred, nonpartisan process,” he said.

Rigged elections?

At the heart of all these efforts is Trump’s long-held view that elections are too often rigged. He claimed this after his 2020 loss, despite no evidence of much, if any, fraud.

Recently he alleged fraud in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, where Republican Spencer Pratt did not advance and two Democrats had an advantage. Again, there is no evidence of a crime.

Independent Electoral Assistance Commission that Trump gutted helped establish the credibility of the election, in his description “improving safe, secure, accurate and accessible elections.”

Center for Innovation and Electoral Research found that over the past 25 years, “states have implemented several innovative policies that streamline the voter registration process, promote voter roll accuracy, and provide eligible citizens with more opportunities to register or update their voter registration.”

Among the changes: more online voter registration, same-day voter registration and automatic voter registration. Forty-six states and Washington, D.C., apply at least one of these methods, up from seven states in 2000.

Next steps

Committee the ability to influence change now seems challenging.

“Congress intentionally organized the Election Assistance Commission as a bipartisan agency to assist states in conducting free, fair and secure elections,” he said. Michael Waldmanpresident and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

“As a result of these deportations, the agency is left without leadership and unable to carry out its core responsibilities,” he said.

Trump is exercising the power that the Supreme Court seemed to have give him a decision last week allowed him to remove members of independent agencies, except Federal Reserve governors.

Trump would have to appoint two Democrats and two Republicans to the EAC, but that would require Senate confirmation.

Asked whether the president planned to make any nominations soon, a White House official said: “The administration has worked with all agencies and local partners from the beginning to protect elections from fraud and abuse, and is investing in a robust infrastructure to sustain that mission, particularly in the midterm elections.”