Dozens of Federal Election Commission employees are asking Trump and the Senate to appoint people of color to the agency for the first time in its 45-year history

• A group of Federal Election Commission employees is demanding that the White House and the Senate appoint people of color to the agency for the first time, according to a letter seen by Insider.
• The bipartisan Federal Election Commission has only had white members in its 45-year history.
• Senate Democrats have asked the White House to nominate FEC attorney Shana Broussard, who is Black, to serve on the FEC. But Trump has not acted.
• During 11 of the past 12 months, the agency hasn't had enough commissioners to enforce laws, pass rules, or otherwise execute its high-level responsibilities even as Election Day draws closer.

A group of Federal Election Commission employees has a message for the White House and US Senate leaders: appoint commissioners of color for the first time in the agency's 45-year history.

All the 31 people who've served on the FEC as commissioners since its founding in 1975 have been white. Former Commissioner Ann Ravel, who served from 2013 to 2017, identifies as white and Latino.

"Just as no political party has a flawless record on race, we believe fervently that none has a monopoly on advancing diversity," reads a letter signed by 66 FEC staffers, and seen by Insider. "We make this call not to tip the balance toward any party or potential nominee but instead to rectify a historical blindness to the benefits Commissioners of diverse backgrounds and experiences can bring to the agency staff, to its mission, and to the nation."

The letter comes amid a nationwide debate about racial equality and power in government, and as the country grapples with several obstacles to voting — the COVID-19 pandemic, mail-in ballots, fear of vote suppression — that could disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic communities.

It also comes as the FEC has three vacancies on its six-seat commission: For the past year, the FEC has lacked the minimum four commissioners needed to enforce civil campaign finance rules, complete investigations, fine scofflaws, and attend to other high-level functions.

The FEC briefly regained a minimum quorum of four commissioners in June, following the Senate appointment of Republican Trey Trainor, who's now the FEC's chairman. But it lost that quorum in early July when Republican Commissioner Caroline Hunter resigned.

The FEC, therefore, is effectively sidelined as the 2020 election races toward Election Day on November 3.

President Donald Trump has not heeded the long-standing request of Senate Democrats to nominate Shana Broussard, a Black attorney who works for current FEC commissioner Steven Walther, to one of the other FEC vacancies.

Trump has, however, nominated conservative election law attorney Allen Dickerson to fill one of three vacant seats. Dickerson hasn't yet been cleared by the Senate, where a confirmation hearing hasn't been scheduled.

The White House and offices of Sens. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, and Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Among the letter's signatories are two agency spokespeople, Judith Ingram and Christian Hilland, and Debbie Chacona, assistant staff director for the agency's reports analysis division.

They note that they're advocating for a more inclusive FEC leadership in their "personal capacities and using our own non-work time and resources."