FILE - Ben Hovland, Commissioner of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, speaks at the National Association of Secretaries of State winter meeting, Feb. 16, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

ATLANTA (AP) — Florida’s “hanging chads” ballot controversy riveted the nation during the 2000 presidential contest and later prompted Congress to create an independent commission to help states update their voting equipment.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has operated in relative anonymity since, but is now central to President Donald Trump’sexecutive order seeking to overhaul elections. One of the commission’s boards will meet Thursday in North Carolina, the first commission-related meeting since the directives were announced.

Among other things, Trump directed the agency to update the national voter registration form to add a proof of citizenship requirement. But whether the president can order an independent agency to act and whether the commission has the authority to do what Trump wants will likely be settled in court.

Why was the commission created?

Congress approved the Help America Vote Act in 2002 to help states replace outdated voting systems and improve the voting experience.

It passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support and was signed into law by then-President George W. Bush, a Republican who won the 2000 presidential contest over Democrat Al Gore in a disputed election that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The culprit was a method of voting at the time in Florida that relied on so-called punch-card ballots, which required voters to mark their choices using a hand-held stylus. But thousands of voters didn't punch their ballot choices completely, leaving it to local election workers — some using magnifying glasses — to divine their intent. The resulting chaos in the pivotal swing state and intense national attention turned “hanging" and “pregnant" chads into household terms.

The Supreme Court ultimately stopped the counting, leaving Bush with a 537-vote victory margin that gave him the Electoral Votes he needed to claim the presidency.

The 2002 law was designed to modernize the voting process. Under it, the Election Assistance Commission was given a number of mandates: distribute $2.8 billion in federal money for new voting equipment; create voluntary guidelines for voting systems and establish a federal testing and certification program for them; oversee the national voter registration form; and gather data about federal elections.

The four commissioners who lead the agency are nominated by the president based on recommendations from the majority and minority leaders in the U.S. House and Senate, then confirmed by the Senate. No political party can be represented by more than two commissioners.

At various points, the agency has faced budget cuts, staffing shortages and gridlock caused by vacancies in the commissioner positions. But a consistent budget and a quorum among the commissioners since 2019 has led to increased stability, with election officials praising its efforts in recent years.

Trump wants to put his own stamp on elections

Trump has long been skeptical of how elections are run, making false claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” against him. Multiple reviews of that election confirmed his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

He has continued to criticize voting processes since his win last November, including in his March 25 executive order, which calls for major changes that include a proof-of-citizenship requirement when people register to vote for federal elections.

While Trump directed several federal agencies to act, two of the order’s major provisions were directed at the Election Assistance Commission.

It was instructed to “take appropriate action” within 30 days to require documentary proof of citizenship on the national voter registration form. The order outlines acceptable documents as a U.S. passport, a REAL-ID compliant driver’s license or official military ID that “indicates the applicant is a citizen,” or a government-issued photo ID accompanied by proof of citizenship.

It also directed the commission to “take all appropriate action to cease” federal money for any state that fails to use the form that includes the proof-of-citizenship requirement, though a handful of states are exempt under federal law. Trump also wants the commission to revise standards for voting systems.

Election experts have said the changes are unrealistic given the process outlined in federal law, which includes reviews by advisory groups and a period for public comment. The last major update to the voluntary guidelines for voting systems took years and was approved by the commission in 2021.

“It’s practically impossible to demand that commissioners of the EAC create wholly new voting system guidelines based on highly questionable criteria within 180 days,” said David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who leads the Center for Election Innovation & Research. “It raises the question as to whether this was designed to create chaos since it cannot be practically and competently completed.”

Lawsuits say the commission is independent and not subject to Trump's orders

Trump’s executive order has prompted lawsuits by voting rights groups, the Democratic Party and Democratic elected officials in 21 states. They say the president is exceeding his authority under the Constitution.

A lawsuit by 19 Democratic attorneys general argues that the commission was created by Congress to operate independently to protect elections and is required to make decisions “under standards of bipartisanship” and in collaboration with the states.

“The Elections EO seeks to eradicate all those safeguards — aiming to force the Commission to rubberstamp the President’s policy preferences on, among other things, voter registration and voting systems,” lawyers for the states wrote.

Justin Levitt, an expert in constitutional law who served previously as deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said Congress established the Election Assistance Commission as independent of the president and did not give it any enforcement authority.

“It’s not like most of the other agencies in the federal government, and that makes a big difference in the amount that it can do or will do to further Trump’s agenda,” Levitt said. “Legally, that (order) has as much impact as if I told the EAC what to do or you told the EAC what to do.”

What happens next?

On Thursday, the commission’s Standards Board begins its annual meeting in North Carolina, where it will hear from election officials from across the country, many of whom are likely to have questions about the commission’s role under Trump’s order.

Earlier this month, the commission’s executive director sent a letter to state election officials summarizing the proof-of-citizenship requirement outlined in Trump’s order and asking how states would propose to implement it, if required, and what effect that would have on voter registration.

Chairman Donald Palmer said the agency was following the law, which governs the way any proposed change to the federal form can be made.

“That’s the process that we’ve done in the past, and that’s the process we did this time,” Palmer said. “In my mind, this is really to get information from the states.”

He praised the commission’s ability in recent years to find consensus and noted that the litigation would likely settle questions surrounding the executive order.

“We are in the executive branch, but we are an independent agency. And so those answers will – I’m sure those will be resolved,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

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