Media distort truth about leftist-linked voter roll ‘maintenance’ group to shield Democrats’ election machine

Leftists’ Scheme to Inflate Voter Rolls Exposed

Over the past two weeks, regime-approved press outlets have run several⁣ articles ‌rushing to⁤ the defense of⁣ leftists’ latest scheme to inflate voter‍ rolls with likely-Democrat voters: the Electronic Registration Information Center.

Otherwise known as ERIC, this organization is a ​widely used voter-roll “management” system ‌founded ‌by Democrat activist David Becker that was “sold to states as a quick‍ and easy way to update their voter rolls.”​ In reality, ERIC’s membership agreement places a higher priority on registering new ⁤voters than on cleaning‌ up existing voter rolls.

The program inflates voter rolls by requiring member ​states to contact “eligible but unregistered” residents to encourage them to register to vote. When⁢ a state becomes an ERIC member, it is required to submit “all active and​ inactive voter files,” “all licensing or ⁤identification records⁢ contained in the motor vehicles database,” and any state files related to “voter registration functions” to the organization, which⁢ then compares this information with that submitted by other member states.

It’s after this process that⁢ ERIC compiles updated voter-roll information — including lists of voters who have⁤ multiple registrations, moved, or ⁣died, and lists of “eligible but unregistered” voters — and sends it to member states. As Victoria Marshall wrote in these pages, ERIC mandates that 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.”

ERIC’s ties to Becker — who has since resigned from his role as⁣ a nonvoting ‌ERIC board member — and its refusal to change its bylaws have prompted a⁣ flurry of‍ GOP election officials‌ to withdraw their states from the organization within the past two years.‍ Included in this growing list are⁣ the states of‌ Virginia,‍ Florida, Ohio, Texas, and several others. Some of these ‌jurisdictions, including Virginia, Ohio, and Alabama,‌ have since formed separate ⁤interstate voter⁢ data-sharing pacts to serve as an ERIC‍ replacement.

In light of ERIC’s steady collapse, Votebeat’s Jen Fifield and Rolling ⁣Stone’s Adam Rawnsley and Asawin Suebsaeng⁢ have painted these GOP officials ⁢as “conspiracy theorists” and fomented Democrat ‌accusations ‌that these states are struggling to ⁣effectively share and maintain ⁢accurate voter rolls. While handing out “far-right” and “MAGA​ Republican” labels like candy ⁤on Halloween, these ‍“reporters” weave ‍a web of ⁢deception to obscure the organization’s role in Democrats’ ​election machine.

Both articles’ writers, for example, attempt to pin the‌ source of Republican⁢ election officials’ concerns with‌ ERIC on a 2022 Gateway Pundit piece about the organization, which​ they quickly dismiss as riddled with “conspiracy theories.” ‌Of course, nowhere in⁤ their ⁢articles do these so-called “journalists” bother to explore one of the — if not the — most alarming details ‌about ERIC: the group’s ties to the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), a Becker-founded nonprofit responsible for interfering in the 2020 election to help Democrats.

CEIR and the Center‌ for​ Tech and Civic Life collectively received hundreds ‌of millions of dollars from Meta‌ CEO Mark Zuckerberg leading up to the⁣ 2020 ‍contest. These “Zuckbucks” were then poured into local election offices throughout the ‍country⁣ to push sloppy⁤ Democrat-backed voting policies, such as⁢ mass mail-in voting and the widespread use of ballot drop boxes. Analyses have shown⁤ these grants were‌ heavily skewed toward Democrat municipalities, especially in swing states, effectively making it⁢ a giant Democrat get-out-the-vote operation.

As ‌The Federalist previously reported and‍ communication records have indicated, CEIR‌ enjoys a transactional relationship with ERIC, which sends 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.

Convenient how that incredibly important detail didn’t make it into the Votebeat and Rolling Stone articles, isn’t it?

Fifield then took things a step further ⁤by​ advancing the contrived narrative‌ that‌ Republican officials whose states left ERIC are having difficulty sharing ​voter data with other states and ensuring accuracy ⁢within ‌their voter rolls. She bases this claim⁣ upon internal documents obtained by American Oversight, a left-wing nonprofit dedicated to “filing open records requests targeting Republican interests.”

Contrary⁣ to Fifield’s activist ⁣“reporting,” several GOP secretaries of⁢ state⁣ whose jurisdictions have ⁣departed ERIC have publicly testified under⁤ oath‌ that they haven’t experienced any issues⁤ with managing their voter ⁤rolls since withdrawing from the organization. In October, Secretaries of State Frank LaRose of Ohio and Cord Byrd of Florida ‍spoke before a Pennsylvania Senate committee hearing about their respective experiences with ERIC and maintaining accurate voter registration lists since departing the program.

When asked if he thought states ⁣can keep voter ​rolls clean without ERIC, LaRose replied, “100⁤ percent,” and went on to debunk Democrats’ sky-is-falling talking points about what​ will happen if states withdraw from the organization.

ERIC “has only existed⁢ for the‌ last⁤ 10 or 12 years, and states have had this ‍responsibility for a long ⁤time to maintain accurate voter rolls,” LaRose said. “States​ absolutely can maintain the accuracy of their voter rolls if they’re intentional about it. And it’s important to use all the ⁢different⁢ tools ​at your disposal.”

LaRose went on to describe Ohio’s various processes of removing ⁢deceased voters, noncitizens, and other ineligible voters from its voter registration lists. He also discussed the effectiveness of data-sharing pacts with other‍ states and noted Ohio’s ⁢intent to formulate these agreements with more states ahead of the 2024 ​election.

Meanwhile, Byrd explained how interstate data-sharing agreements have allowed Florida to possess greater control over its voter‍ data, saying, “We⁢ know exactly what we’re sharing with the other state [and] ⁤ they know what they’re sharing with us.” Byrd expressed hope ​that “through these different [memorandums of understanding] ⁣ … a consistent standard will be created” when it ⁢comes to states exchanging voter⁢ data.

ERIC’s role in the left’s get-out-the-vote apparatus is bigger than⁤ Democrats are willing to admit — and ⁣that’s exactly why their regime-approved media allies will⁢ never tell their readers the truth about it.