NORFOLK, VA – Virginia has become the eighth Republican-led state to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a non-partisan voting-integrity partnership. ERIC was designed to facilitate the sharing of voter registration and identification data among member states to prevent individuals from being registered to vote in multiple states. However, the partnership has faced baseless claims, particularly from far-right sources, that it favored Democrats.
The departure of Virginia follows similar moves by Ohio, Iowa, Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Alabama, all of which have Republican leadership. ERIC initially consisted of 33 states and the District of Columbia, but its membership has dwindled, and currently, only seven Republican-led states remain among the 25 remaining in the compact, with Texas also set to withdraw in October.
Former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have propagated false allegations of widespread voter fraud, and Trump has specifically targeted ERIC, claiming without evidence that it benefits Democrats. In response, several Republican-led states have tightened voting rules under the pretext of preventing fraud.
Virginia’s decision to leave ERIC was based on concerns about costs resulting from the exits of other states and a belief that ERIC’s focus had shifted away from its original goal of improving voter roll accuracy.
ERIC’s executive director, Shane Hamlin, noted that Virginia’s withdrawal would be effective immediately. Hamlin emphasized the organization’s commitment to improving voter roll accuracy and expanding access to voter registration.
Critics, including Alice Clapman, a voting-rights attorney at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, argue that the departures from ERIC illustrate the way in which election misinformation can reinforce itself, with states citing other states’ withdrawals as reasons for leaving. Clapman also pointed out the irony of states expressing concern about voter fraud while simultaneously undermining a tool aimed at detecting it.