Election Assistance Commission Disabled Following Firings

Action: On July 9, the President removed the three remaining members¹ of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), disabling the Federal agency responsible for administering funding for state and territorial election administration and providing information about election administration. Because the four-member agency requires approval from at least three commissioners to take official action, it is unable to act until new members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.²

Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead^®

• Along with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) which enforces civil law aspects of campaign finance laws, the EAC is one of two Federal agencies that focus exclusively on elections.
• The EAC was established³ by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, which established new mandatory standards for states in several key areas of election administration and authorized Federal funding to help states meet those standards. HAVA tasked the EAC with assisting states on HAVA compliance and distributing funds to the states. Congress structured the agency as bipartisan, limiting it to no more than two members from the same political party.
• The CEO Center has repeatedly cited the EAC’s election administration resources in its series of Solutions Briefs on free and fair elections. In its recent Solutions Brief, A Stable Democracy at 250: Trusted Elections as the Foundation, The CEO Center recommended that administrators use EAC’s Best Practices for Election Technology⁴ as a guide to assess their processes and that the public use it to better understand the security measures in place as a means to build public trust.
• Without commissioners, the EAC cannot conduct routine business, update the Federal voter registration form, revise voting-system standards, distribute funds to states, or advance its testing and certification work for voting systems. Because many states rely on EAC certification before purchasing or using voting equipment, a prolonged vacancy could create operational uncertainty during the 2026 election cycle.
• The removals follow the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Slaughter⁵ which expanded Presidential authority to remove members of multi-member independent agencies.
• What this means for business: Employers should not expect immediate changes to voting rules, which are set primarily by state and local law. However, businesses should monitor downstream effects on election administration, including possible delays in Federal guidance, voting system certification, or state election funding that could affect election operations ahead of the 2026 midterms.
  • If Federal funding or guidance is delayed, states may need to identify additional resources to support election administration, including voting technology, staffing, security, and voter education and may seek partners in that effort.
  • For business leaders, the development increases the importance of using trusted civic education resources, such as Tbe CEO Center’s Elections Toolkit, to support nonpartisan employee education on local voting procedures and poll worker recruitment.