The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a bipartisan organization that assists states in maintaining their voter rolls, is facing an uncertain future after several Republican-led states withdrew from the group.
ERIC's board met on Friday to determine the organization's path forward after the high-profile departures of Florida, West Virginia, and Missouri. Some officials are concerned that more states may follow suit. This division within ERIC is the latest example of previously non-political organizations being drawn into the drama of the post-Trump world.
The nation's electoral system is at risk if ERIC collapses. In the past year, five states with Republican chief election officials have left the organization, some citing conspiratorial reasons, while others claim issues with the organization's structure. ERIC was once praised by conservatives as an essential "election integrity tool," but it has now come under fire from segments of the Republican base still upset about Trump's 2020 loss. Ohio, Texas, and Alaska, which also have Republican chief election officials, have all signaled that they may leave ERIC.
However, not all Republicans are abandoning the organization. Notably, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has pledged his support for ERIC after the recent departures. He tweeted, "States claim they want to combat illegal voting and clean voter rolls — but then leave the best and only group capable of detecting double voting across state lines," and attached a gif of Spongebob Squarepants punching himself in the face.
Raffensperger believes that by reacting to disinformation, states have hurt their own and others' interests while undermining voter confidence. The sudden departure of the three states earlier this month caught Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, by surprise.
He stated in an interview that there had been a bipartisan group working to try to find a common ground to preserve the membership. The structure of ERIC is at issue for many of the states considering leaving now. ERIC was founded over a decade ago by a handful of states that were roughly evenly split between Democratic and Republican-led states.
ERIC assists states in maintaining voter rolls by helping election officials identify people who may have either moved or died, and requires states to conduct list maintenance by removing voters who aren't eligible. The complaints broadly have landed in two buckets: In addition to removing voters on the rolls, ERIC also requires member states to contact potentially eligible but unregistered voters to see if they would like to register. Some Republicans want to end this practice, saying it is superfluous and a waste of resources.
The composition of the organization's board has been a major point of disagreement. The board consists primarily of a voting representative, usually a senior official responsible for elections, from each member state. However, there are also two non-voting positions: one that is currently unfilled and one held by David Becker, a former attorney from the Department of Justice who played a crucial role in establishing ERIC and now serves as the founder and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research.
Since the 2020 election, Becker has been a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump's baseless claims about the security of the election, and has become a prominent commentator on America's election laws and systems. As several states departed from the organization, they publicly accused Becker of being "partisan," although they did not name him directly.
Becker strongly denied these accusations, stating that he stands for the truth and for the civil servants who have run the most secure, transparent, and verified elections in American history. His organization also circulated a letter from prominent Republican election officials and attorneys, including Raffensperger, defending him and accusing extremists of targeting Becker and CEIR to undermine their work in supporting professional civil servants who ensure secure elections.
Earlier this week, Becker announced that he would not accept renomination as a non-voting board member due to what he called "attacks fueled by disinformation" that caused some states to leave the organization. Despite this, a senior Republican election official who supports ERIC predicted that Becker not serving on the board could lower tensions at the upcoming meeting.
This could lead to more states staying in the organization, at least until the next divisive issue arises. During the meeting, the remaining ERIC board members unanimously voted to abolish the ex-officio board positions. All states present, except for West Virginia, voted in favor of this decision.
West Virginia abstained from several votes, but their resignation from the organization will not take effect until June. The meeting also discussed controversial topics, including a proposal that would allow member states to choose what they do with ERIC data and an idea that would tie two of ERIC's reports together.
According to Becker, both proposals had majority support but did not meet the threshold required to change the organization's bylaws. The proposal to link the two reports, suggested by Pennsylvania and Georgia, had more support. It is unclear if removing the ex officio members will satisfy states considering leaving. Gabriel Sterling, a senior official in the Georgia secretary of state's office, tweeted that he hopes this will allow states to stay and maintain clean voter rolls.
It is also uncertain how departing states will replace the gap in their list maintenance mechanics without ERIC. States have signaled they may try to move operations in-house or create a new system. Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft mentioned ongoing conversations about creating a new system, while Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson has shifted her elections director to develop and manage an interstate voter registration crosscheck program. The executive director of the Honest Elections Project believes there would be a market for such a system, but there are currently no projects on track to do so.
