Exit leaving FEC without a quorum

WASHINGTON — Caroline Hunter, a long-serving Republican appointee to the Federal Election Commission, announced her resignation Friday, once again leaving the panel without a four-person quorum to conduct business just months before the November election.

The agency had just regained its voting quorum this month, with the swearing in of a new GOP commissioner after the longest period in the agency’s history without the four votes necessary to regulate and enforce federal campaign finance laws.

Now, in the face of a mounting backlog of complaints and requests for guidance in an election year, the commission will not have enough votes to do its official work.

The commission, which is ideologically split by design, is now left with one Republican, one Democrat and an independent who often caucuses with Democrats.

The Republican, James Trainor, was confirmed in May and sworn in June, restoring the agency’s quorum after nearly nine months without being able to do its official work. Trainor was elected chairman of the panel last week.

Hunter, who has sided with her Republican colleagues on the panel in favor of less regulation on campaign finance, informed the White House that she plans to step down July 3, according to the letter. Her departure was first reported by Politico.

Without Hunter, the six-member panel is once again left with just three commissioners, which will further complicate the agency’s ability to monitor compliance with election law in the heat of the 2020 campaign.

The White House announced its plans Friday to nominate campaign-finance lawyer Allen Dickerson as FEC commissioner to replace Hunter. Dickerson is the legal director of the Institute for Free Speech, a nonprofit that opposes limits on political speech and advertising.