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The state of Ohio announced Friday that it is the last Republican-led state to withdraw from Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERICa multi-state electoral association that is key to sustaining the right to vote in the United States and which has become the focal point of conspiracies over alleged electoral fraud Republican extreme right.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican who is considered to run for the United States Senate in the 2024 election, sent a letter to the executive director of the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, announcing Ohio’s decision to secede from the group, shortly after a bipartisan meeting the compact’s member states held on Friday, according to NPR.
“ERIC has repeatedly chosen to ignore demands to adopt reforms that would bolster confidence in its performance, encourage growth in its membership, and ensure not only its current stability but also its durability,” LaRose wrote. “Rather, it has chosen to double down on poor strategic decisions, which have only resulted in the transformation of a previously bipartisan organization into one that appears to serve only the interests of one political party.”
The first state to leave ERIC was Louisiana, followed by Alabama. Then, in one fell swoop, Florida, Missouri and West Virginia announced in early March that they were leaving the bipartisan network of some 30 states that helps maintain accurate electoral voter rolls and has faced increasing attacks from election deniers and right-wing media, according to The New York Times.
Ohio is the sixth red state to follow this separatist trend arising from questions based on false rumors of electoral fraud or voter registration fraud.
The Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonprofit organization known as ERIC, has been the target of false claims by allies of the former president donald trump which they say is a voter registration vehicle for Democrats that received money from George Soros, the liberal billionaire and philanthropist, when it was created in 2012.
Trump even weighed in on Monday, urging all Republican governors to break ties with the group, unsubstantiated claiming in a social media post by Truth that it “pumps up the lists” for Democrats.
What is the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)
ERIC has recently become a partisan issue.
The nonprofit Electronic Record Information Center (ERIC) was founded more than a decade ago by seven states: Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, Utah, Virginia and Washington, four of which were led by Republicans.
It collects data from state sources, such as boards of elections and departments of motor vehicles, along with federal data on deaths and address changes, as explained in an analysis of “States Give In to Conspiracy Theories, Drop Out of California Data Cooperative.” Voters, ERIC,” by Brenan Center for Justice.
then produces reports to participating state election officials that they can use to update their voter rollsweed out ineligible voters, investigate rare cases of potentially illegal voting, and help eligible but unregistered Americans complete their voter registration. Currently, 27 states and Washington, DC are members.
Till the date, the group has helped states identify millions of people records that should be deleted because they moved or died and has facilitated millions of new eligible voter registrations.
ERIC is currently owned, funded, and managed by participating states, each of which has one vote on the board of directors.
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