2 More GOP States Exit National Voter Verification Coalition

Iowa and Ohio became the latest GOP-led state to withdraw from the national voter verification alliance over concerns about its impartiality.

Frank LaRose, Ohio’s secretary of state rumored to be mulling a run for the U.S. Senate in 2024, announced the decision in a letter (pdf) to the director of the coalition, called the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).

“I cannot justify the use of Ohio’s tax dollars for an organization that seems intent on rejecting meaningful accountability, publicly maligning my motives, and waging a relentless campaign of misinformation about this effort,” LaRose wrote.

LaRose wrote his letter shortly after the meeting of member states of the coalition on Friday. A proposal to reform some bylaws of the coalition was rejected.

“ERIC has chosen repeatedly to ignore demands to embrace reforms that would bolster confidence in its performance, encourage growth in its membership, and ensure not only its present stability but also its durability,” LaRose wrote.

He stated that the coalition has changed from an alliance to a “previously bipartisan organization to one that appears to favor only the interests of one political party.”

Politico quoted Paul Pate from Iowa as saying that the withdrawal of some states from the Coalition undermines its ability as an effective tool to aid Iowa after Friday’s meeting.

“My office will be recommending resigning our membership from ERIC,” Pate said, per Politico.

ERIC did not respond to a request for comment made outside normal business hours.

More Information

ERIC was established to enable election officials in different states to compare data and confirm voter rolls. It lets states know when voters are born or died so that they can keep their voter rolls up-to-date.

It generates data about people who are eligible to vote, but have not registered. States must contact these potential voters.

However, Republicans in several states have criticised the coalition following Gateway Pundit’s claims that it was ineffective in 2021. “a left-wing voter registration drive disguised as voter roll clean-up.”

Two initiatives were defeated during Friday’s meeting. One of them—previously proposed by LaRose—would have allowed member states to decide what to do with data produced by ERIC. The other would have tied ERIC’s requirement to contact unregistered voters to an analysis that aids states to identify double voting.

Iowa and Ohio are sixth and seventh, respectively, to opt out ERIC. There is speculation in the media that other GOP-led states may soon join. Alabama, Florida and West Virginia are all out of the coalition.

Donald Trump, the former president, was critical of the consortium.

Trump Weighs In

Trump encouraged other Republican-led States to take similar actions after the recent withdrawal of West Virginia, Missouri, Florida.

“All Republican Governors should immediately pull out of ERIC, the terrible Voter Registration System that ‘pumps the rolls’ for Democrats and does nothing to clean them up. It is a fools game for Republicans,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, and West Virginia were among the ERIC member states that proposed changes to how the states would collaborate in the consortium. This included eliminating the requirement for member states notifying and encouraging eligible voters to register.

ERIC executive director Shane Hamlin in a March 2 open letter, citing “recent misinformation spreading about ERIC,” Iterated the network, a bipartisan nonprofit, has been funded by members states and follows standard safety protocols.

“We analyze voter registration and motor vehicle department data, provided by our members through secure channels, along with official federal death data and change of address data, in order to provide our members with various reports,” He wrote.

“They use these reports to update their voter rolls, remove ineligible voters, investigate potential illegal voting, or provide voter registration information to individuals who may be eligible to vote.”

John Haughey contributed this report.