EEOC alters voting procedures

On January 14, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted 2-to-1 in its first public hearing of 2026 to rescind its voting procedures that set out a timeline for individual commissioners to review documents ahead of votes, aiming to give them an adequate chance to evaluate big proposals. It also gave commissioners the right to demand a public or private discussion on proposals, requests called “agenda votes” that the protocols mandated the EEOC chair to honor. The procedures were only codified in early 2025, but according to Democratic EEOC Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal, the practice had been part of a long-standing tradition ensuring transparency and preserving a balance in power.

A coalition of civil rights groups had expressed strong opposition to the EEOC’s proposed “rescission of commission voting procedures,” echoing Kotagal’s statement that they reflected long-standing agency practices that have been honored consistently by all commissioners.

During the debate on the voting procedures, Chair Andrea Lucas made clear she will be pushing President Trump’s agenda aggressively, stating elections have consequences. New Republican Commissioner Brittany Panuccio argued the procedures had been the “lastminute effort to create new procedural barriers . . . for the current chair.”

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