Ohio forms interstate pacts to replace ERIC, a leftist voter-roll ‘management’ group.

Ohio Secretary of ⁢State Finalizes Agreements with⁢ Three States to ​Enhance Election Integrity

Ohio Secretary ⁣of State Frank LaRose announced on Thursday‌ that his‍ office has ‌finalized ⁢agreements with three states to exchange critical voter data in an​ effort to bolster transparent and accurate elections.

“Ohio took ‌the lead ⁤on this ⁤election integrity project, and it’s only one aspect of the work we’re doing to keep our ⁤elections honest ⁤as we ‍prepare for the ‍next presidential election⁤ year,” LaRose said in a statement. Ohio’s new agreements are with Florida, ‍Virginia, and West Virginia.

According to ⁤a LaRose press release, these arrangements permit each state to “implement ‌state-specific data sharing and security protocols to allow for the secure ⁤exchange of voter information, giving‌ both states in [each individual] agreement the ability to⁣ analyze records for evidence of cross-state voter fraud and duplicate voter ⁢registrations.”

These new interstate contracts ⁢appear‍ to act as replacements ⁢for the Electronic Registration Information System (ERIC). ERIC is a widely used voter-roll management group ⁤founded by ⁢Democrat activist David Becker that was “sold‍ to states as a⁤ quick ‍and easy way to update their voter rolls.”

In actuality, ERIC ⁤ inflates voter rolls by requiring member states to contact eligible but unregistered ​residents and encourage them to register to vote. But⁤ ERIC’s membership ⁣agreement also places a higher priority on registering new voters than cleaning up‌ existing voter rolls. As Victoria Marshall wrote in‌ these⁣ pages, ERIC mandates states engage ⁣in voter list maintenance “only after [they have] independently validated” the data they receive​ from the ‍organization. In other‍ words, “if a state does not independently validate ​the ERIC data, it is not required to clean⁤ its voter rolls.”

Prior to an⁢ ERIC board‍ meeting earlier this year, LaRose sent a letter to the organization threatening to withdraw Ohio from the group “if the‍ board did not remove Becker”⁤ — who at the time served as a non-voting board member — “from its bylaws and cut the requirement ⁤for ​states to ​conduct partisan ‌voter registration outreach.” While⁤ Becker ultimately stepped down from his role, ERIC’s board declined to ⁢approve LaRose’s ​other proposals, prompting Ohio’s departure from the‍ organization.

According to Amanda Grandjean, LaRose’s senior adviser and ⁣the ⁣deputy⁣ assistant secretary of state, Ohio’s agreements with Florida, Virginia, and West Virginia came as the result of a 27-state working group that “formed earlier this year in hopes of finding a more durable and accountable solution to cross-state data sharing that fit each state’s individual ⁢needs.” Grandjean‌ indicated arrangements with additional states will be formalized⁤ in⁤ the ‍future.

In addition to dismissing Republican election officials’ legitimate concerns about ERIC, legacy media ⁣have neglected ⁣to detail the organization’s connection with another Becker-founded group known as the Center‌ for Election Innovation and Research. ⁢Otherwise known as CEIR, this Becker-founded nonprofit was one ‌of two left-wing ⁤groups that poured hundreds ⁣of millions of dollars from Meta ⁣CEO Mark ⁤Zuckerberg into local⁤ election offices ⁣leading up to the 2020 election.

Those‌ “Zuckbucks” were then used to advance unsecured Democrat-backed voting⁢ practices, such as mass, unsupervised‌ mail-in voting and⁢ the use of ‍ballot drop boxes. Analyses have⁣ shown ⁢these funds were heavily ⁢skewed toward Democrat municipalities,⁣ especially in swing states, effectively making them a giant Democrat get-out-the-vote operation.

But CEIR’s election interference doesn’t⁣ stop there. As The Federalist⁣ previously reported, CEIR enjoys an ⁢active relationship with ERIC, which transmits the voter-roll data it receives from states​ to CEIR. Upon receiving the data, ‍CEIR “then​ develops targeted mailing lists and sends them back to the states⁣ to use for voter registration outreach.” In other words, CEIR — a highly partisan nonprofit with ⁤a history of‌ left-wing activism — ‍is creating lists of potential (and likely Democrat) voters for states to register in the ‍lead-up to major ‍elections.

In addition ​to⁣ Ohio, other states that have withdrawn from ERIC in recent ​months include Texas, Iowa, Virginia, West Virginia, ‌Florida, and Missouri. Alabama and Louisiana withdrew from the ⁢group⁣ last year.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff ⁢writer for The​ Federalist and a⁢ graduate ⁤of the ​University ⁢of Mary Washington.​ He previously served ‌as a state content⁤ writer for Convention of ‌States Action and⁢ his work has been ⁢featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and ⁢Conservative Review. Follow him on⁤ Twitter @ShawnFleetwood