by Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle
October 31, 2025
A top federal election official should lose her job over making unfounded claims that Democrats rely on “illegal citizens” to win elections, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said Friday.
Christy McCormick, one of four members of the federal Election Assistance Commission, joined a Wednesday panel at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank closely aligned with President Donald Trump. The hour-long discussion about election fraud included McCormick and other panelists speculating about why Democrats oppose their efforts to restrict voting access in the name of election security. Christy McCormick is a Republican member of the Election Assistance Commission. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Election Assistance Commission)
“They need open borders, they need illegal citizens to increase their votes,” she said. “And this is why they’re fighting so adamantly against us to try to prevent that from happening.”
Read, a Democrat elected in 2024 who serves on the commission’s 110-member standards board, said McCormick must resign or be removed from office immediately because of her comments.
“It’s un-American to spread lies that sow fear and paranoia in the heart of our democracy,” Read said. “Our founders built this nation on free and fair elections. Generations of Americans fought and died to defend them. Commissioner McCormick’s false claims dishonor that sacrifice. She betrayed the trust of the people she was meant to serve.”
Elections are run by states, but the commission accredits laboratories that test voting systems, certifies thems and develops guidance for elections officials on nearly every aspect of elections administration.
Earlier in the discussion, McCormick, who lives in California, said her household received seven mailed ballots for the state’s current election on whether to allow mid-decade redistricting, and only two of those ballots were for her family. She said she considered casting the other five just to see if the state would count them.
California, like Oregon, encourages voters to contact election officials if they receive a ballot in error. And like Oregon, California compares signatures on ballot envelopes to a voter’s signature on file to verify a voter’s identity.
The Election Assistance Commission, established in 2002, is an independent agency with four bipartisan commissioners appointed by the president. McCormick and Commissioner Donald Palmer are Republicans and Commissioners Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland are Democrats, but all four are supposed to be impartial and independent.
McCormick, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, publicly dismissed reports of attempted Russian interference in the 2016 election as “deceptive propaganda perpetrated on the American public” by the Obama administration, ProPublica reported. The next year, she served on an advisory commission Trump created to build on his unsubstantiated claims that millions of people illegally voted for his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton.
The Election Assistance Commission responded to an inquiry with an automated response that spokespeople are furloughed without access to email because of the ongoing government shutdown.
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Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: [email protected].