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The commission EO 14248 relies on has no members

12 September 2026

The Election Assistance Commission lists no sitting commissioner. Its commissioners page, date-stamped 17 August 2026, sets out the Help America Vote Act’s provisions on appointment and then links straight to “Former Commissioners”; the roster in between is absent.1 That page lists all four of the Commission’s members with end dates in 2026: Thomas Hicks (2015-2026), Christy McCormick (2015-2026), Benjamin W. Hovland (2019-2026) and Donald Palmer (2019-2026).2 Under 52 U.S.C. § 20928, “[a]ny action which the Commission is authorized to carry out under this chapter may be carried out only with the approval of at least three of its members.”3 Executive Order 14248 of 25 March 2025 assigns the Commission three tasks (see EO 14248 directs proof of citizenship onto the federal voter form).4

  1. The threshold for acting is three and the membership is none. Section 20928 sets no lower quorum and admits no exception, so the Commission cannot take an action it is authorised to take under the chapter.3 The vacancy is not the ordinary kind produced by expiring terms: the Commission’s own page records that under the Help America Vote Act “members of the commission shall continue to serve past their expired term until a successor takes office,” which means a term running out does not by itself empty a seat.1

  2. Each of the order’s three instructions to the Commission now has no addressee capable of carrying it out. Section 2(a)(i) of EO 14248 directs the Commission to require documentary proof of citizenship on the national mail voter registration form; section 4(a) directs it to cease federal funds to states that do not comply with the provisions listed at 52 U.S.C. 21145; and section 7(b) directs it to condition funding on a state adopting an Election Day ballot-receipt deadline.4 All three are Commission actions under the chapter and so fall within section 20928.34

  3. The seats emptied in stages rather than at once. Votebeat reported on 9 July 2026 that the two Democratic commissioners, Hicks and Hovland, were notified by email that their positions were terminated effective immediately, over the name of a deputy director of presidential personnel; that the Republican commissioner McCormick was allowed to resign, attributed to three sources within the agency; and that the fourth, Palmer, had left earlier in the year for the Heritage Foundation.5 The Commission had lost a quorum before, through vacancies and expiries, with delays to voting-system guidance as a result; what is different here is removal.5

  4. Congress has separately fenced off the Commission’s grant money. The continuing resolution enacted on 2 September carries forward the fiscal 2026 Financial Services and General Government appropriations “except the last proviso under the heading ‘Election Assistance Commission—Election Security Grants’” (see The FY2027 stopgap becomes law on the Senate’s vehicle).6 The exception is narrow and concerns the proviso rather than the grants themselves, but it is the second federal lever bearing on the same agency in the same period.6

Footnotes

  1. U.S. Election Assistance Commission, “Commissioners,” eac.gov, page date-stamped Monday, August 17, 2026, read 12 September 2026. The page carries the Help America Vote Act background — that “four commissioners are nominated by the President on recommendations from the majority and minority leadership,” that “[n]o more than two commissioners may belong to the same political party,” that commissioners “may serve two consecutive terms” once confirmed, and that “members of the commission shall continue to serve past their expired term until a successor takes office” — followed by a link to Former Commissioners. No sitting commissioner is named anywhere on it; the main content runs to roughly 600 characters and carries three links. The page renders client-side and is not readable by a plain command-line fetch. https://www.eac.gov/about/commissioners ↩ ↩2

  2. U.S. Election Assistance Commission, “Former Commissioners,” eac.gov, page date-stamped Monday, August 17, 2026, read 12 September 2026. Thirteen former commissioners are listed with date ranges. The four most recent are Thomas Hicks (2015-2026), Christy McCormick (2015-2026), Benjamin W. Hovland (2019-2026) and Donald Palmer (2019-2026); the next most recent is Matthew V. Masterson (2014-2018). https://www.eac.gov/about/former-commissioners ↩

  3. 52 U.S.C. § 20928, “Requiring majority approval for actions”: “Any action which the Commission is authorized to carry out under this chapter may be carried out only with the approval of at least three of its members.” Enacted as section 208 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, Pub. L. 107-252, 116 Stat. 1678. Section 20923(a)(1) provides for four members appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title52-section20928&edition=prelim ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Executive Order 14248 of 25 March 2025, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” 90 FR 14005. § 2(a)(i) (the form requirement, within 30 days); § 4(a) (ceasing federal funds to states not complying with 52 U.S.C. 21145); § 7(b) (conditioning available funding on compliance with 52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(6), including an Election Day ballot receipt deadline, excluding ballots cast under 52 U.S.C. 20301 et seq.). See EO 14248 directs proof of citizenship onto the federal voter form. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/03/28/2025-05523/preserving-and-protecting-the-integrity-of-american-elections ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Jessica Huseman, “Trump fires all Election Assistance Commission members, leaving agency unable to act,” Votebeat, 9 July 2026, updated 10 July 2026 with White House comment. Reported: that the President removed the three remaining commissioners; that Hicks and Hovland were notified by email stating that the position “is terminated, effective immediately,” signed by Morgan DeWitt Snow, deputy director of presidential personnel in the Executive Office of the President; that McCormick was allowed to resign, on three sources within the agency; and that Palmer had departed earlier in 2026 to join the Heritage Foundation. Votebeat is a non-profit newsroom covering election administration; the removals are reported as Votebeat reports them, and no removal instrument has appeared in the Federal Register, which carried no presidential document concerning the Commission between 1 June and 12 September 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/07/09/trump-fires-election-assistance-commission-members-hicks-hovland-mccormick/ ↩ ↩2

  6. Division A, section 101(5) of the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, enacted 2 September 2026 as the Senate amendment to H.R. 6500, continues the fiscal 2026 Financial Services and General Government appropriations “except the last proviso under the heading “Election Assistance Commission—Election Security Grants”.” See The FY2027 stopgap becomes law on the Senate’s vehicle and Senate passes the FY2027 stopgap 90-6 by emptying an African trade bill. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr6500enr/html/BILLS-119hr6500enr.htm ↩ ↩2

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