Trump Fires Last Members Of Election Assistance Commission 

President Donald Trump is committed to doing everything besides his job to secure the midterm elections for the GOP. On Thursday, the Trump administration revealed that the last three members of an independent committee designed to help states administer elections have been fired or resigned. 

The New York Times reports that Trump fired Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland from the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and pushed the third member, Republican Christy McCormick, to resign. As of now, there are no members of the EAC. The move is strange to say the least, as Congress appoints new members to the EAC, and there can be no more than two people of the same party on the four-person commission. It seems this is less about installing people more favorable to Trump’s agenda and more about completely preventing the EAC from doing its job.

So you might be asking, “What is the EAC and why does it matter?” Well, I’ll let the Times explain.

From The New York Times:

The E.A.C., which was established in 2002, is a crucial guardrail for ensuring election security across the country. According to its website, it guides states in ensuring they meet voting requirements, oversees testing and certification of voting systems and disperses funding to help states meet requirements. It serves as a national clearinghouse for information on election administration and maintains the national mail voter registration form established by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

Last year, Mr. Trump issued an executive order that calls on the Election Assistance Commission to require people to show government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and directs state or local officials to record and verify the information. It also seeks to require states to count ballots by Election Day. A judge permanently blocked the order, saying the president exceeded his authority.

Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, issued a statement condemning the firings. “Today’s terminations are deeply concerning in light of President Trump’s relentless efforts to try to interfere in elections,” Waldman wrote. “These removals leave the agency without leadership and unable to carry out its major responsibilities.”

A White House official issued a statement arguing that Trump reserved the right to fire individuals who “may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted.” That’s cute considering Trump is trying his damnedest to disenfranchise anyone who doesn’t vote for him.

Since taking office last year, Trump has spent an inordinate amount of time trying to federalize elections and rig the midterms in his favor. His first step in the process was to convince several Republican governors to trigger rare mid-decade redistricting efforts to draw congressional maps favoring Republicans. Despite controlling both the House and the Senate, the GOP decided the best way to maintain its narrow House majority wasn’t through effective legislation, but by rigging the maps. 

Trump has repeatedly tried to pressure Congress into passing the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require people to provide proof of citizenship every time they vote and impose significant restrictions on mail-in voting. When it became clear the SAVE America Act didn’t have enough votes to pass in the Senate, Trump took matters into his own hands and issued an executive order that would require states to submit voter rolls to the federal government and issued restrictions on mail-in voting.

Since the Constitution places control of election laws with the states, it should come as no surprise that several federal judges have blocked all of Trump’s attempts to seize control of elections. 

It’s truly maddening because if Trump put even an ounce of the effort he puts into his attempts to rig the election into legislation that benefits the American people, he probably wouldn’t have to steal the election. But that would require Trump to actually do his job instead of posting on Truth Social all the time, so here we are. 

SEE ALSO:

Trump’s Election Order Is A Sign Of Open Rebellion Against The Country

States Must Hold The Line Against Trump’s Election Subversion