Democracy Docket: Exclusive: After Conspiratorial Rant, Top Federal Election Official Must Recant or Resign, Democratic Senators Demand
By Jim Saksa
Christy McCormick is facing fresh calls to resign her position on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) or rescind her recent conspiratorial comments, which were first reported by Democracy Docket.
“We write to condemn your October 29, 2025, remarks before the America First Policy Institute in which you claimed that Democratic opposition to restrictive voting laws is because ‘They need open borders, they need illegal citizens to increase their votes […] And this is why they’re fighting so adamantly against us,’” Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wrote. “These comments are indefensible and bring into question whether you are fit to serve as a commissioner on the Election Assistance Commission.”
The letter goes on to urge McCormick to either “disavow these comments immediately,” or resign “to protect the integrity of the Commission and its important nonpartisan work.”
The EAC is an independent federal agency that helps states administer elections and certifies voting equipment. As ranking member on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, Padilla performs congressional oversight of the panel.
At an October panel discussion on voting at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, McCormick and other panelists were asked why they think the left opposes efforts to tighten voting rules. McCormick claimed Democrats were “losing ground,” and so need “illegal citizens to increase their votes.”
While McCormick is a Republican appointee to the EAC, the commissioners are supposed to be politically neutral officials working to help states run fair and secure elections.
Illegal voting by non-citizens is extremely rare. Even a voter fraud database compiled by the right-wing Heritage Foundation shows that the dozens of alleged incidents in the past four decades have never gotten close to changing the outcome of an election.
So it is particularly appalling that someone like McCormick would parrot such a deeply partisan falsehood, the senators argued.
“It is completely unacceptable for an individual who was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on a bipartisan commission with this mission to make inflammatory, false, and partisan claims of voter fraud conspiracy theories,” the senators wrote. “This is deeply dangerous to voters, our election system, and more broadly to our democracy.”
After her comments went public, McCormick faced an immediate call to resign from Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read (D), a member of EAC’s Standards Board.
The EAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read the full article here.