On Thursday, several sources reported that Donald Trump fired the remaining members of the US Election Commission that supports election administration authorities across the country, just a few months before the midterm elections.
The administration removed the remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission in various ways on Thursday. The White House presidential personnel office emailed the two Democratic appointees about their terminations, while the Republican appointee resigned.
“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, seen by Reuters, said.
Reacting to the development, Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a Thursday statemen that
“It is irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on causing chaos for our election officials across this country.”
According to Fontes, the move by President Donald Trump undermines the integrity of nonpartisan election administration.”
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What Is The Election Assistance Commission
Information gathered from the commission’s website explains that, the Election Assistance Commission is an independent, bipartisan commission that maintains the national mail-voter registration form created by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, accredits testing facilities and certifies voting systems, and acts as a “national clearinghouse of information on election administration.”
However, the dismissals come after Trump and high-ranking government officials pushed to alter the rules for vote-by-mail and looked into the results of the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Backstory…
President Donald Trump‘s latest move follows months of sweeping changes across key federal institutions since his return to the White House.
His administration has already dismissed or replaced numerous senior officials in agencies overseeing national security, the civil service and independent regulatory bodies, arguing that the reforms are necessary to eliminate political bias and improve government efficiency.
However, critics have accused the president of steadily eroding the independence of institutions traditionally insulated from partisan influence.
The decision to remove the commission’s remaining members has therefore intensified fears among election experts and political observers that the FEC could become unable to perform key statutory functions, fuelling concerns over potential administrative disruptions and renewed disputes over the integrity of the upcoming midterm elections.
