Peach Tree Times

The executive director of a foundation that seeks to ensure election integrity has criticized the transparency of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).

Gina Swoboda, executive director of the Voter Reference Foundation, said in a blog post that ERIC, a 501(c)(3) organization with a voter registration maintenance system, is flawed. Made up of 31 member states, including Georgia, ERIC allows for the comparison of voter registration data to help find discrepancies.

"Unfortunately, what could be a fantastic program is flawed by the complete lack of transparency within ERIC," Swoboda said in the blog post. "In practice, a lack of transparency has in some cases prevented the public and election integrity advocacy organizations from carrying out the public oversight of voter list maintenance that is called for under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)."

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 in part mandates that states create methods that ensure accurate and updated lists of registered voters, the Department of Justice said on its site.

ERIC was created in 2012 to address issues with keeping voter rolls up to date, ERIC said on its site.

Member states provide ERIC with voter registration and identification records, phone numbers, email addresses, and other identifying information, Swoboda said.

"ERIC compares common identifying data elements and uses additional tools such as a name variation database, fuzzy matching, and record linkage. Record linkage is a matching methodology that compares multiple data sources at the same time," Swoboda said. "ERIC produces reports for each member by analyzing the results of the matching to identify voter records from that member that may be outdated or inaccurate or people who are not currently registered to vote."

ERIC provides information to member states so that possibly eligible but unregistered voters may be contacted with instructions on how to register, Swoboda said.

"ERIC is holding a tremendous amount of data about both registered voters and those who are Eligible But Unregistered in its member states," Swoboda said. "With whom is this data being shared? More disclosure is necessary."

Louisiana, formerly an ERIC member state, suspended its participation in ERIC in January, Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said in a release.

"When Louisiana joined ERIC under my predecessor, we did so under the impression that it would enhance the accuracy of our voter rolls and strengthen Louisiana's election integrity," Ardoin said in the release. "After reading about these allegations and speaking with election attorneys and experts, I have determined that it may no longer be in Louisiana's best interests to participate in this organization. It is vital that any legitimate allegation of voter fraud or possible misuse of our voters' personal information is investigated. My job is to ensure that the data voters entrust to my office is protected. I look forward to ERIC's swift response to these allegations."

Another area of concern surrounds the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), which is involved in a lawsuit that seeks to mandate that ERIC permit the disclosure of the voter list maintenance reports it provides to its member states, Swoboda said.

"Under the ERIC contract with its members, this information is required to be withheld. PiLF has argued that this is a violation of the National Voter Registration Act's Public Disclosure provision," Swoboda said. "ERIC should release its members from the provisions that do not permit the 32 members of the organization, which are all government agencies, to comply with public record, NVRA record and FOIA requests."