President Donald J. Trump has fired the leadership of the federal agency that provides funding and security guidance to election officials, according to sources familiar with the matter and an email reviewed by CNN. The move has raised alarm bells among election officials about federal interference ahead of the midterms.
Election Security Concerns
The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is one of the few remaining federal entities tasked with providing election security support to states. Created by Congress in 2002, the agency is meant to be bipartisan and certifies voting equipment, administering hundreds of millions of dollars in federal support for elections.
Some election officials feel the agency has fallen short in standing up for election officials who have faced violent threats due to conspiracy theories pushed by the president. Adrian Fontes, the Democratic secretary of state of Arizona, stated that the move undermines the integrity of nonpartisan election administration.
A recent Supreme Court decision bolstering a president’s power to fire leaders of independent agencies had many in the election community fearing for the future of the EAC. The commission was also a target of the first executive order Trump signed seeking to overhaul elections in 2025.
Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.
