A multistate voter data-sharing organization abandoned by a growing number of red states for alleged partisanship is focused on identifying and registering unregistered voters not on combating voter fraud, says Missouri's top elections official, rebutting a media narrative misrepresenting the reasons for the GOP states' flight.
In a letter to ERIC Executive Director Shane Hamlin explaining his state's exit, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft cited ERIC's refusal "To require member states to participate in addressing multi-state voter fraud" and its focus "On adding names to voter rolls by requiring a solicitation to individuals who already had an opportunity to register to vote and made the conscious decision to not be registered."
Addressing voter fraud should be a requirement since the idea of ERIC was to clean up voter rolls, but it isn't required, Ashcroft said, despite claims that it's a key benefit of the group.
The American Accountability Foundation obtained by an open records request a 2021 email sent from CEIR project manager Kyle Upchurch to then-Pennsylvania Deputy Elections Secretary Jonathan M. Marks, where Upchurch mentioned EBUs and advice from ERIC regarding voter files.
Election integrity group Verity Vote obtained emails via open records request that show CEIR and ERIC exchanging EBU data to use for voter registration outreach, according to a report the group published in June 2022.
"26 Republicans and conservatives recently wrote in support of the truth and our bipartisan/nonpartisan work."The truth is that ERIC remains the best tool to keep voter lists accurate, and combat voter fraud .... "Unfortunately, attacks fueled by disinformation by those who want our democracy to fail, have led to some states, all R-led, to diminish their own ability to maintain election integrity."States that leave ERIC will see more dead voters and voters who have moved away on their lists, and reduce their ability to detect double-voting.
In response to the three GOP states leaving ERIC earlier in March, Raffensperger tweeted a gif of Spongebob Squarepants punching himself in the face, writing: "States claim they want to combat illegal voting & clean voter rolls - but then leave the best & only group capable of detecting double voting across state lines, [ERIC].
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