US Election Assistance Commission
Federal agency that maintains The National voter registration form.
the Commission keeps The National mail voter registration form. Its 2016 proof-of-citizenship episode returned as a parallel on 30 September 2026, when NPR reported that the Pentagon had cut a 'never lived in the United States' checkbox from overseas voting forms.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026
Can the federal voter form demand proof of citizenship?
Timeline for US Election Assistance Commission
Mentioned in: Pentagon cuts a box from overseas forms
US Midterms 2026Background
Congress created the US Election Assistance Commission in the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Its four commissioners are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Besides keeping The National mail voter registration form, it certifies voting systems and audits HAVA grants.
Control of the federal form makes the Commission the venue for fights over proof of citizenship. In January 2016 its executive director, Brian Newby, approved proof-of-citizenship instructions for Alabama, Georgia and Kansas without a Commission vote; the DC Circuit enjoined the change that September. In 2025 a federal judge in Washington blocked an executive order directing the Commission to ADD documentary proof of citizenship to the form, and later made the block permanent.
The 2026 overseas-form change was not the Commission's act. The Pentagon's Federal Voting Assistance Program removed the checkbox through emergency Paperwork Reduction Act approval. The comparison lies in the route: a change to a federal voting form made without the usual review.