The TOI correspondent from Washington: In a move that has sent shock waves through the US and triggered suspicions among critics that US President Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to rig the November midterm elections, the White House has dismantled a bipartisan federal agency that helps America’s sprawling and often chaotic voting system function.It is the first time in the 24-year history of the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) that all its commissioners have been removed simultaneously. Democratic Chairman Thomas Hicks and Democratic Commissioner Benjamin Hovland reportedly received termination notices from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, while Republican Vice Chair Christy McCormick was allowed to resign. The commission had already shrunk from four members to three after Republican Commissioner Donald Palmer left earlier this year to join the conservative Heritage Foundation. Unlike India’s Election Commission, which directly supervises national elections, the EAC does not administer voting in the United States. Elections in America are highly decentralized and are conducted by thousands of county and municipal officials spread across 50 states, each operating under its own rules and procedures. Instead, the EAC performs what election experts describe as the “essential plumbing” of American democracy. Created by Congress in 2002 after the disputed Bush-Gore presidential election and the infamous Florida recount, the commission was intended to restore confidence in US elections by bringing technical expertise and uniform standards to an otherwise fragmented electoral system. Among other responsibilities, it certifies voting equipment, accredits laboratories that test voting machines and distributes federal election grants to states.The agency also maintains the national mail voter-registration form used by millions of Americans, issues guidance on election security and administration, and serves as a clearinghouse for best practices among state and local election officials. “The EAC is the connective tissue of election administration,” one former federal election official said. “People do not notice it because, most of the time, it quietly does its job.”The White House has defended the dismissals as part of Trump’s effort to ensure that officials responsible for election administration are aligned with his priority of “securing America’s elections.” But critics, particularly Democrats, see something entirely different. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of trying to “seize control of our elections before a single vote is cast,” noting that the president had previously said Republicans should “take over the voting.”Democrats also argue that gutting an independent agency responsible for election administration risks undermining public confidence in an already polarized electoral system. “Every American regardless of political party should be horrified at yet another blatant effort by President Trump to eradicate every safeguard of free and fair elections. If Republicans remain silent in the face of his obvious attempts to rig the election, they are complicit in allowing our democracy to crumble,” said Dan Goldman, a former lawmaker who led the effort to impeach Trump during his first term.The episode comes against the backdrop of Trump’s longstanding claims that US elections are vulnerable to fraud and his continuing efforts to reshape federal election policy following his refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. No evidence of widespread voter fraud capable of altering the result of that election was ever established by courts or election officials, yet Trump has continued to insist that American elections are susceptible to manipulation.The implications extend beyond the immediate disruption to election administration. Legal scholars say the move could become another major test of presidential authority following recent Supreme Court decisions that have expanded the president’s power to remove officials from independent agencies. Litigation is widely expected over whether Congress intended EAC commissioners to be protected from at-will dismissal.For democracies around the world, the episode once again underscores the unusual nature of the American electoral system. India’s Election Commission is a powerful constitutional body that directly oversees voting for nearly one billion eligible citizens. Canada, Australia and Britain similarly rely on centralized national election authorities with substantial operational control.By contrast, the US entrusts elections to a patchwork of state and local governments, making coordinating institutions like the EAC disproportionately important despite their relatively limited formal powers. Precisely because American elections are so fragmented and sketchy, experts say bodies that establish technical standards and foster cooperation among thousands of election administrators play an outsized role in maintaining confidence in the democratic process.
