Vice President of the FEC resigns, leaving the agency unable to vote

The Vice-President of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) presented his letter of resignation to President TrumpDonald John TrumpJoe Kennedy thinks he'll be sitting in the Senate, Biden told parliament: "I'm not going to go crazy." Relations between Seoul, Pyongyang and Tokyo, need a shock of reality Monday, leaving the agency without the necessary number of commissioners to vote on the proposed actions.

Matthew Petersen, Republican and Commissioner since 2008, wrote that he would officially step down on Aug. 31.

"Throughout my service, I have faithfully fulfilled my duty to uphold the law in a manner that respects the right to freedom of expression, while fairly interpreting the laws and regulations. regulations and providing significant notice to persons subject to the jurisdiction of the FEC, "wrote Petersen. "I am honored to have served the American people in this capacity and to have fulfilled the oath taken eleven years ago."

A spokesman for the FEC confirmed the resignation of Petersen, refusing to comment further.

His departure leaves the agency with only three of the four members required to vote on the proposed actions.

"Under the law, no more than three commissioners can represent the same political party and at least four actions are needed for any official action by the Commission," the FEC wrote on its website. "This structure was created to encourage non-partisan decisions."

The remaining commissioners are President Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat; Commissioner Caroline Hunter, Republican; and Commissioner Steven Walther, an independent. President Trump has appointed Republican Lawyer Trey Trainor to the position of Commissioner of the FEC in 2017, but the Senate has not voted for his appointment.

Petersen was heavily involved in technology issues, which he pointed out in his resignation letter.

"In order to guarantee promising new technologies designed to encourage voter awareness, small fundraising and political association continue to flourish, I have always opposed unnecessarily rigid regulatory decisions," Petersen wrote. "I have also been a strong advocate of Internet protection as a dynamic means of spreading political discourse and enhancing participation in the democratic process."

In July, Petersen joined other CEF commissioners to vote unanimously to allow federal political campaigns to accept low-cost security zone 1 security services. He also voted last year to allow federal campaigns and national parties to accept a set of Microsoft 's enhanced online account security features.

Petersen's resignation aggravates the problems at the FEC.

Weintraub told The Hill earlier this year that the commissioners disagreed about the agency's goals.

"This is not a blocking problem, it is not a problem of disagreement, it is a problem of half of the commissioners who do not agree with the mission of the agency, "said Weintraub.

Weintraub last week rejected President Trump's claims that he would have won New Hampshire in the 2016 elections without election fraud. In a letter to Trump, she asked for evidence of the election fraud, saying that her allegations risked "undermining faith" in the US elections.