States Already Have a Good Way to Ensure Election Integrity—and MAGA Hates It

In January 2022, Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin announced that his state was leaving the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). This decision came as a surprise because ERIC was the organization best equipped to ensure election integrity. MAGA Republicans suddenly showed no interest in ERIC. Conspiracy theorists claimed that ERIC's funding came from Democrats and that it did not clean up voter rolls effectively.

ERIC, short for Electronic Registration Information Center, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of elections officials from seven states who work together to maintain accurate voter rolls. It tracks voter moves and removes duplicate registrations and dead people from the rolls. It also identifies eligible voters who are not registered.

ERIC has attracted new members every year since its establishment in 2012. By 2023, nearly a third of the member states had left the organization. Officials from the departing states admitted that they knew the reason for leaving was false, yet they still publicly announced the decision. Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, and Texas were among the states that left ERIC.

The number of flagged cases of potential illegal voting decreased significantly after the exodus. Republicans officials could have benefited from recruiting more states to join ERIC instead of leaving it.