Withdrawal from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) – Resolution 2023-06

Whereas the Loudoun County Republican Committee’s mission includes promoting protection of the rights and privacy of each legally-registered voter in Virginia and the integrity of each legal vote;

Whereas the integrity of voter rolls is a fundamental component of said protection of voter rights such that accurate and up-to-date voter rolls are essential to prevent the dilution of each legal vote cast;

Whereas the Electronic Registration Information Center, Inc. (hereafter, ERIC) is a non-governmental, non-profit corporation organized and operating outside the Commonwealth of Virginia; the entity structure of ERIC provides no accountability to the public as to its actions, although the actions or non-actions of ERIC and its Board of Directors have the potential to profoundly impact each legally-registered voter’s vote cast;

Whereas membership in ERIC, obligates the Commonwealth of Virginia to share every registered voter’s personally identifiable information (PII) as well as PII from the Department of Motor Vehicles System including that of underage minors of which data are not shared in return by ERIC with member state and local election agencies and offices;

Whereas failure to supply such data every 60 days to ERIC and after a 30-day grace period results in automatic removal from ERIC membership but sharing ERIC-generated data returned to the states by ERIC to any entity outside of the elections office requires both a court order and the approval of ERIC before the data sought is shared;

Whereas recommendations of good faith reforms by a bipartisan group of ERIC member states, formed in 2022, that would improve oversight and governance, reduce participation from partisan ex-officio members of the Board, allow à la carte selection of member services from ERIC, and improve the security and protection of states’ citizens’ private information have not been acted upon by the Officers and Board of ERIC;

Whereas this lack of action has resulted in a loss of confidence and withdrawal from ERIC membership by six states since January 1, 2023, with the potential for additional withdrawals;

Whereas ERIC’s stated benefits include reducing state voter roll maintenance workload and improving voter roll accuracy, ERIC has imposed reporting requirements such that workload is increased while analysis of some member states’ voter rolls’ integrity show no or de minimus benefit;

Whereas the benefit of ERIC membership and its ability to achieve its stated mission continues to diminish with the withdrawal of membership of other states;

Whereas withdrawal from ERIC of those states adjacent to Virginia continues to degrade data integrity and increase inability to provide data directed at preventing cross-border voting; and

Whereas the members of the Loudoun County Republican Committee have lost confidence in ERIC’s ability to be an effective and accurate source of voter roll data for maintaining accurate and up-to-date Virginia voter rolls; therefore, be it

Resolved, that the Loudoun County Republican Committee

1) supports withdrawal of the Commonwealth of Virginia from membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center; and

Further Resolved, that the Chairman of the Loudoun County Republican Committee

1) shall cause copies of this resolution to be disseminated to all members of the Virginia State Board of Election, the Virginia Commissioner of Elections, the Virginia Secretary of Administration, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and the Attorney General of Virginia.