RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia Democrats are forcing Governor Glenn Youngkin’s hand after passing a bill to require Virginia to re-enter a multi-state compact to fight voter fraud, known as ERIC.
ERIC, which is currently made up of 25 states and Washington D.C., uses data from member states’ motor vehicles and elections departments to ensure accurate voter rolls after someone has moved, died or registered to vote more than once.
Last year, the Youngkin administration removed Virginia from the bipartisan group, citing concerns about how data is shared.
“In a year where our Democracy is on the line — and not only in Virginia — where Virginians will have to come out and safeguard our democracy, but we also have the accountability and responsibility to be leaders for our nation,” Rouse said.
Earlier this year, Elections Commissioner Susan Beals said the administration had issues with ERIC identifying individuals who are eligible to vote, but who aren’t registered. Beals says sending those people letters cost the state over $200,000.
“We wanted to see if that could be optional for states. If they wanted to engage in that, they could. There were also some concerns about members of the board who were being overtly political, who were not representing states, in some of their actions,” Beals told members of the General Assembly earlier this year.
In September, after Virginia pulled out of ERIC, the Department of Elections announced it partnered with five states and Washington D.C. to share data to help ensure accurate voter rolls.
