Post by @mattblaze@federate.social

Trump has fired all the commissioners of the bipartisan Elections Assistance Commission (EAC). The EAC was set up to after the 2000 election chiefly to administer the HAVA funds. Today it publishes standards for voting equipment and a manages standard form people can send to their state for voter registration.

Trump previously ordered the EAC to add a "proof of citizenship" section to the voter registration form, and this move may be related to that.

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-fires-election-assistance-commission-leadership/

Matt Blaze

@mattblaze@federate.social 3 hours ago

It's worth noting that while not having commissioners in the EAC (and partisan control generally) is certainly concerning, almost nothing the EAC does is binding on states, which are free to use any voter registration forms they want and to certify or not certify whatever election equipment meets their own requiements.

Matt Blaze

@mattblaze@federate.social 2 hours ago

So this is somewhere beyond "not a good sign" but short of "the sky is falling".

2xfo

@RnDanger@infosec.exchange 2 hours ago

@mattblaze
I feel like it signals an intent

Matt Blaze

@mattblaze@federate.social 2 hours ago

@RnDanger Trump has almost no control over elections, and the fact that he's doing indirect things (with limited effect) like this reflects that.

The real threats are what states do and what congress does. He can lobby and pressure them, but he doesn't have a lot of direct levers to pull.

Steve Bellovin

@SteveBellovin@infosec.exchange 2 hours ago

@mattblaze Not the first time something like that has happened. I was on the EAC's Technical Guidelines Development Committee through 2012, but once the GOP gained control of the House the Commission (and hence its committees) stopped functioning for a while.

Matt Blaze

@mattblaze@federate.social 2 hours ago

@SteveBellovin Yeah. The concern here is that Trump is likely trying to use the EAC aggressively as a vehicle for unilaterally implementing parts of his elections EO.