Ensuring the Efficiency and Integrity of America's Voter Rolls
FAQ'S
As of March 2020 Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, 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. (30 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 at a minimum 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.
The member states. Each state pays annual dues, which are determined by a formula approved by the ERIC membership. The formula includes citizen voting age population as a factor. Large states pay more than small states. The annual budget for FY 2019-20 is approximately $947,000.
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.