Federal Election Commission does not have enough members to enforce laws and regulations
Two congressmen, Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer, sent a letter in July that requested the Federal Election Commission, along with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, DOJ, and DHS collaborate in creating safeguards for AI tools since it is used as a research device for the upcoming election for many Americans.
“Providing voters with accurate, neutral, and verifiable information is not optional, but a democratic imperative,” stated the letter by the congressmen
4% of voters sought election information through AI in the past month, but at least 38% of potential voters received information due to the summary available at the top of their search results. This survey from the American Association of Political Consultants Foundation shows that 53% of search-summary readers knew that the summary was AI-generated.
Problems arise as the FEC, the nation’s civil campaign finance regulator, is unable to hold hearings, issue rules, or enforce campaign finance law and regulation. The agency lacks a quorum of four commissioners, currently only having two remaining in office. The FEC lost three members from January to April 2025 and, due to a resignation, lost another on Oct. 3, 2025.
The loss of quorum began in early 2025 and has only happened four times in FEC’s history. The first time was in 2008, which lasted six months; the second time lasted nine months and happened throughout 2019 and 2020; the third time occurred in the second half of 2020 for six months.
FEC commissioners are nominated by the president but need to be confirmed by the Senate. President Donald Trump sent 2 appointees to be confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 11, 2026.
