President Donald Trump has removed members of a bipartisan federal election commission that resisted his efforts to require would-be voters to document their U.S. citizenship before registering. The White House confirmed the executive action against members of the Election Assistance Commission, which distributes federal grants to states and oversees the testing of voting systems.

Commission’s Role

The commission has previously declined to change the national voter registration form to require documentation of an applicant’s U.S. citizenship, as Trump’s administration has urged. The form itself does not require citizenship documents, but voter registration materials from the agency do state clearly that it is already illegal to falsely claim U.S. citizenship to vote.

The president removed the commission’s two Democratic members, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland. The panel’s Republican member, Christy McCormick, resigned. Former Republican commissioner Donald Palmer had already left his post voluntarily earlier this year.

Criticism and Next Steps

Critics accuse Trump of damaging voters’ trust and further politicizing the voting process. The lawmakers noted that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority enabled Trump’s move with its decision to ‘upend decades of executive power to appease the President.’ It is unclear whether Trump plans to nominate new members immediately or leave the positions vacant.

Original reporting: KTSA News/Talk (San Antonio) — read the source article.