Following the lead of other Republican-led states, Texas announced last week it will be withdrawing from the leftist-controlled voter-roll management group known as ERIC later this year.
As The Federalist has previously reported, the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, is a widely used voter-roll management organization founded by Democrat activist David Becker that was “sold to states as a quick and easy way to update their voter rolls.” In actuality, ERIC inflates voter rolls by requiring member states to contact eligible but unregistered residents and encouraging them to register to vote.
In a letter sent to ERIC Executive Director Shane Hamlin on Thursday, Director of Elections Christina Adkins informed the organization that Texas would be terminating its ERIC membership “effective 91 days from the date of this letter.” The date of resignation is in accordance with ERIC’s bylaws, according to the document.
Texas’ withdrawal from ERIC was made possible by legislation signed into law last month by Gov. Greg Abbott that permits the state to contract with a separate private sector data system instead of ERIC, which according to its website, is “funded and governed by states that choose to join.” As noted in SB 1070, Texas is required to “cooperate with other states and jurisdictions to develop systems” that clean its voter rolls.
The new law is set to take effect on Sept. 1.
In addition to founding ERIC, Becker is also the founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), which, along with the Center for Tech and Civic Life, received hundreds of millions of dollars from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg leading up to the 2020 election. These grants were poured into local election offices throughout the country to push sloppy Democrat-backed voting policies, such as mass mail-in voting and the widespread use of ballot drop boxes.
Analyses have shown these “Zuckbucks” were heavily skewed toward Democrat municipalities, especially in swing states, effectively making it a giant Democrat get-out-the-vote operation.
CEIR’s interference in the electoral process isn’t exclusive to the 2020 election, however. As The Federalist previously explained, CEIR enjoys an active relationship with ERIC, which transmits the voter-roll data it receives from states to CEIR. Upon receiving the data, CEIR “then develops targeted mailing lists and sends them back to the states to use for voter registration outreach.” In other words, CEIR — a highly partisan nonprofit with a history of left-wing activism — is creating lists of potential (and likely Democrat) voters for states to register in the lead-up to major elections.
Instead of highlighting these alarming connections, legacy media have largely obfuscated ERIC’s ties to CEIR in an apparent bid to label Republican concerns about the organization as illegitimate. Following Ohio and Iowa’s announced departures from the organization in March, for example, Politico ran a hit piece accusing departing GOP-led states of having “conspiratorial-minded reasons” for leaving ERIC.
In addition to Texas, Ohio, and Iowa, the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, and Missouri announced their departures from ERIC earlier this year. Alabama and Louisiana resigned from the group last year.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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