PA Senators may exit ERIC.

Are you concerned about the privacy of your voter registration information? You should be. Other states have already left the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) voter roll service, and now some Pennsylvania senators are thinking about leaving too.

ERIC is a nonprofit organization founded in 2012 that helps states clean up voter rolls. It bills itself as nonpartisan but is connected to the left-leaning Center for Election Innovation and Research. When controversy bubbles up around ERIC, Democrats tend to support its use while Republicans tend to oppose it.

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires states to make a reasonable effort to remove ineligible people from voter rolls. When someone moves or dies, their name should be removed from the registered voters’ roll, so it can’t be used by someone else to vote fraudulently.

For years this task has been handled by county or state election officials, but now some states, including Pennsylvania, outsource much of the work of clearing voter rolls to ERIC.

Privacy Concerns

To do its work, ERIC requires states to provide voter registration records. States must hand over all records of individuals who went to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and other places where people can register to vote.

People seeking these state services do not suspect that a third party will be given their private information, which could be used by political parties to build a targeted list of voters. This can be valuable data for election strategists.

Voter Registration Requirement

ERIC and CEIR are closely connected, and “CEIR is creating lists of voters who should be targeted for voter registration efforts and laundering the lists back through ERIC for distribution to the states,” a report last year by Verity Vote noted.

ERIC recognizes voters who moved to another member state but didn’t change addresses in their former state. They are put on a list to be removed from the former state’s voter rolls.

In addition to this list, ERIC sends member states lists of eligible but unregistered (EBU) residents. States are contractually obligated to attempt to register EBUs to vote at least every 425 days. The ERIC agreement requires states to contact every person on the list and inform them how to register to vote.

Membership in ERIC

ERIC is set up as a membership organization managed by state election officials from around the United States. Members include Washington, D.C. and the following states: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

And these states were members of ERIC but have exited: Ohio, Iowa, Florida, West Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana, and Alabama. And Texas voted Tuesday to leave.

Presidential Citizens Medal

Accurate voter rolls and election integrity monopolized much of the conversation Wednesday during the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee hearing where Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt was questioned. Described as an opportunity for senators to get to know Schmidt before his confirmation hearing, senators spent much time asking him about ERIC.

Schmidt is a Republican, nominated, for the position that oversees elections, by Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Schmidt helped administer elections in Philadelphia for 10 years where, as a commissioner, he was vice chairman of the board of elections, including during the controversial 2020 presidential election.

In January, he received a Presidential Citizens Medal from President Joe Biden for refusing to be swayed by pressure from then-President Donald Trump regarding the election results.

Conclusion

Membership in ERIC has not resulted in clean voter rolls in Pennsylvania, where a Judicial Watch lawsuit was settled this week. In it, Pennsylvania admitted in court filings that it removed 178,258 ineligible registrations in response to communications from Judicial Watch.

It’s time to ask ourselves if the benefits of ERIC outweigh the risks to our privacy and election integrity.