Virginia Joins List of States to Exit Agency Maintaining Voter Registration Rolls

A voter casts her ballot with her child at a polling station at Rose Hill Elementary School during the midterm primary election in Alexandria, Va., on June 21, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Virginia is the latest state to withdraw from the Democrat-run Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) over a variety of concerns about how the agency handles voter registration rolls.

Elections Commissioner Susan Beals sent a letter on May 11 to the executive director of ERIC, Shane Hamlin, to say Virginia would no longer participate in the data-sharing program.

Beals listed a variety of concerns, including how ERIC handles the “stewardship, maintenance, privacy, and confidentiality” of Virginia voter information.

“In short, ERIC’s mandate has expanded beyond that of its initial intent—to improve the accuracy of voter rolls. We will pursue other information arrangements with our neighboring states and look to other opportunities to partner with states in an apolitical fashion,” wrote Susan Beals in the Thursday letter.

ERIC was founded in 2012 as a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, and according to the watchdog group Judicial Watch, ERIC was formed under the direction of David Becker, a former attorney with the Department of Justice.

According to the ERIC’s website, member states, of which Virginia was an original member, give voter registration and DMV data to ERIC, so they can then identify ineligible or inactive voters.

Other reasons for Virginia’s resignation from ERIC listed by Beals include the cost of membership, data sharing with non-ERIC members, data sharing for political purposes, and “Virginia’s ability to replicate favorable ERIC functionality internally.”

In response to earlier resignation by other states, Hamlin put out a statement about what he called “misinformation” about ERIC.

“I want to set the record straight on a few important points,” wrote Hamlin. “We follow widely accepted security protocols for handling the data we utilize to create the reports. Our servers are housed in a managed, secure data center located here in the U.S. Secure remote access to the data center is limited to only employees who need it to perform their duties.”

“Attorney General Miyares has expressed concerns about ERIC and supports the governor’s decision today,” said Miyares spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita in an email statement to The Epoch Times. “Our office stands ready and able to assist the Department of Elections during this transition.”

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in Suffolk, Va., on Oct. 25, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The decision to have Virginia exit ERIC garnered criticism, including from Delegate Marcus Simon and the group Virginia Democrats.

“This was to prevent all the things that you Republicans say could happen,” Simon wrote. “And apparently, we’re leaving because somebody in the administration wants to align themselves with these MAGA Republicans that believe the election was stolen.”

“Started by GOP Governor McDonnell and praised by GOP AG Miyares, Glenn Youngkin is now pulling Virginia out of ERIC. ERIC helped maintain accurate voter rolls; leaving undermines the integrity of our registrars’ work. Youngkin continues to drag Virginia backward,” Virginia Democrats wrote in a Twitter post about the ERIC decision.

Contrary to what Democrats are saying about ERIC, the watchdog group Judicial Watch investigated ERIC and, in their “white paper” report, said they found strong ties to Democrats and a number of questionable data points.

“Since its founding, ERIC claims to have identified 2,498,688 registered voters who relocated across state lines, 203,210 duplicate registrations, and 65,437 deceased registered voters. According to an analysis of U.S. Election Assistance data by Verity Vote, states that do not participate in ERIC had a higher rate of identifying and removing from voter registration rolls individuals who relocated out of jurisdiction than ERIC member states.”

Other states that have withdrawn from ERIC include Alabama, Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Ohio.