So what is the state of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC):

Last year, the Republican-controlled House passed Harper’s bill to
eliminate the EAC, but the Senate took no action. Harper, chairman of
the House Administration Subcommittee on Elections, plans to look for
other ways to push the effort in the next Congress.

…the EAC has operated without commissioners for nearly a year and has been run by an acting executive director since May.“The agency is paralyzed,’’ said Hans von Spakovsky, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Has anything really changed since the EAC imploded?  Republicans still believe the Democrats politicized the agency and wonder why they should bring the EAC out of the coma it has been in for over a year.  Ironically, all the talk about nationalizing elections and having the federal government run state and local elections is not going to help the EAC (the face of the federal government in elections) get back on its feet with state and local election officials.

…The EAC’s four commission slots — two Democrats and two Republicans —
are vacant. President Barack Obama nominated three commissioners last
year, but one resigned last December and the other nominees haven’t made
it through the initial stages of confirmation by the Senate. Another
commissioner resigned in December.  Without enough commissioners, the EAC can’t adopt new policies, hold formal hearings or issue advisory opinions.“When
it got to be a political football even the White House backed off,”
Lewis said. “Nobody did anything … (and) that ultimately became a
hindrance to the agency.’’

Link to story.