- ProPublica: “President Donald Trump has pushed out the three remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission, leaving the bipartisan agency in limbo as he rushes to remake how elections are run before this year’s midterms. Trump fired Benjamin Hovland and Thomas Hicks, the Democrats on the commission, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ProPublica, which was the first to report the actions on its social media accounts. Christy McCormick, the Republican, was allowed to resign, the sources said. The commission’s unprecedented dismantling alarmed voter advocacy groups and Democratic state election officials, who called the move “reckless and irresponsible.” “The EAC plays a critical role in supporting state and local election officials,” Cisco Aguilar, Nevada’s secretary of state and chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, said in a statement, “and it will again fall on Secretaries of State and other election administrators to fill the gap.” A White House official wouldn’t confirm the specific actions taken but said in a statement to ProPublica that the president “reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted.”
- RawStory: “…“Trump’s pal also claims Democrats are plotting to steal enough seats in November to impeach both Trump and Vance and install Hakeem Jeffries in the Oval Office. I know what you’re thinking, because I thought it too. This man sounds like a quack. Well, yes. He sure seems to be a quack. And that’s actually why I’m taking him seriously.” Ticktin has already helped draft an executive order “to declare a national emergency based on alleged 2020 foreign election interference,” CNN reported earlier this week. And, with Trump having already attempted to impose limits on mail-in voting, Taylor feared that the president could very well follow through on Ticktin’s calls to place the midterm elections “under federal control” by declaring a national emergency. “It’s our expectation that the president will undertake more illegal and unconstitutional actions to steal the midterms. He will dispute the outcome if his side loses, even if the loss is decisive and beyond dispute,” Taylor wrote. “And he will – in all likelihood – try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to the political opposition. After all, he’s done it before. But this time we’re better prepared to fight it. And we need to stand together.”
- Notice News: Trump guts election watchdog — months before the midterms – Trump just fired the remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission — the independent, bipartisan agency created after 2000 to keep elections running fairly across the country — and he did it via a form email saying “thank you for your service.” The two Democratic commissioners were terminated. The last Republican resigned. All four seats are now vacant, months before November’s midterms. The White House cited a recent Supreme Court ruling expanding presidential power over independent agencies as cover. The EAC manages the national voter registration form — the same one Trump tried to weaponize last year by requiring proof of citizenship, a move a federal judge blocked. Trump has also pushed redistricting grabs in red states and railed against mail-in voting — while Melania and Barron both voted by mail in Florida. There’s a word for dismantling election infrastructure right before an election you need to win. It’s not “securing democracy.”
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