Top advocate for restricting voting rushes to defend EAC official who spread false conspiracy theory about Dems

By Jacob Knutson

U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairwoman Christy McCormick swearing in in Washington, D.C, in May 2019 before the House Oversight and Reform National Security subcommittee.
U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairwoman Christy McCormick swearing in in Washington, D.C, in May 2019 before the House Oversight and Reform National Security subcommittee. (AP Photo: Carolyn Kaster)

A top right-wing advocate for voter roll purges defended the Republican vice-chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), who told Democracy Docket last week that her recent inflammatory comments against Democrats last year are under “investigation.”

In a statement Monday, Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) President J. Christian Adams claimed that reporting on EAC Commissioner Christy McCormick’s comments “continues the pattern of weaponizing the bureaucracy against people like Christy McCormick, who want to make our elections more honest.”

“Christy McCormick had been on the front lines of improving election administration, literally when she served in dangerous places like Iraq to set up electoral systems there and establish the Rule of Law,” Adams added.

During a panel discussion in October with the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute (AFPI), McCormick falsely claimed that Democrats actively promote and rely on voting by “illegal citizens” to win elections.

Asked last week if she regretted those claims or would like to clarify them, McCormick said she didn’t want to speak because her comments were “under some sort of investigation.” She also declined to clarify what investigation she was referring to. 

Though PILF describes itself as a “nonpartisan, non-profit, public interest organization,” Adams also attacked Democrats in the AFPI panel discussion last year.

Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF), a nonpartisan legal advocacy group founded by lawyer and former Obama administration official Norm Eisen, subsequently filed a complaint against McCormick with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC). 

DDF asked the OSC to investigate whether McCormick’s statements potentially violated the Hatch Act, which generally prohibits federal employees from leveraging their offices for partisan ends.

In announcing Adams’ defense of McCormick, PILF claimed that DDF’s complaint “deserves scrutiny.”

DDF told Democracy Docket in an email last week that it had not yet received a response from the OSC regarding its complaint.

Democracy Forward*, a nonprofit pro-democracy legal organization, sued the EAC last week to force the commission to turn over potential communications between its commissioners and election deniers or restrictive voting organizations, including PILF.

Democracy Forward filed the suit after the EAC delayed its responses to multiple requests for key documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

*Democracy Docket Founder Marc Elias is the chair of the Democracy Forward board.