An Open Letter from ERIC's Executive Director
With recent misinformation spreading about ERIC, I want to set the record straight on a few important points.
Ensuring the Efficiency and Integrity of America's Voter Rolls
FAQ'S
As of November 2022 Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The District of Columbia is also a member. (32 states plus D.C.)
The states. The chief elections official from each member state designates a Member Representative to the ERIC Board of Directors. Each state's Member Representative serves as a voting member of the board.
Each member submits its voter registration and motor vehicle licensee data. The data includes names, addresses, date-of-birth, last four digits of the social security number. Private data such as date of birth and the last four digits of the Social Security number are protected using a cryptographic one-way hash and then transmitted to ERIC. An explanation of how the hashing process works, how it is used in the ERIC data matching process, and how privacy is protected is in the Technology and Security Overview.
Each member state receives reports that show voters who have moved within their state, voters who have moved out of state, voters who have died, duplicate registrations in the same state, and individuals who are potentially eligible to vote but are not yet registered. States may request a report identifying voters who appear to have voted twice within the state in the prior federal election, voted in more than one state in the prior federal election, or who voted on behalf of a deceased voter in the prior federal election.
The member states. New members pay a one-time joining fee of $25,000. These fees are generally held in reserve for large periodic expenses, for example IT upgrades. Each member state also pays annual dues, which are determined by a formula approved by the ERIC membership. The formula includes citizen voting age population as a factor. States with large populations pay more than states with smaller populations. Annual member dues for 2022-23 range from about $26,000 to about $116,000. ERIC’s annual budget for FY 2022-23 is approximately $1,538,000.
Yes. Efficient and effective data matching and cleaner voter rolls will result in such efficiencies as less returned mail, fewer provisional ballots on election day, shorter lines at polling places, etc. In addition, ERIC uses resources such as the Social Security death index and data from the US Post Office that states now buy on their own. ERIC states share these purchases when they pay their annual dues.