The White House explored options to bypass the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and use emergency powers to implement changes to voting systems before US President Donald Trump dismissed the agency's leadership this week, according to a Reuters report cited by Deutsche Welle.

Key issues for the Trump administration included the EAC's refusal to require proof of citizenship on its national mail voter registration form and its failure to address the administration's election-related priorities. On Thursday, Trump removed the two Democratic members of the EAC, while the sole remaining Republican commissioner resigned.

The White House stated on Friday that the administration had been working to "safeguard elections from fraud and abuse" ahead of the November midterm elections. Experts suggest the firings are unlikely to affect the midterms but noted they followed a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing the president to fire members of independent agency boards without cause.

According to Reuters, White House officials reviewed a proposal last year from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declare a national emergency and create a federal task force to address alleged vulnerabilities in voting systems without involving the EAC. The report also indicated that officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the White House met with EAC leaders to discuss concerns, including widely debunked claims of fraud during the 2020 election that Trump lost.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the firings as a "brazen attempt to seize control of our elections before a single vote is cast in the midterms."

Sources