Virginia joins list of GOP states leaving bipartisan effort to combat voter fraud amid conspiracies

Election officials in Virginia have announced plans to withdraw the state from a bipartisan effort designed to ensure accurate voter lists and combat fraud — but that also has been caught up in conspiracy theories spread since the 2020 presidential election.

When Virginia formally withdraws later this year, it will become the eighth Republican-led state to leave the Electronic Registration Information Center, known as ERIC, since the group was targeted in a series of online stories last year that questioned its funding and purpose. Former President Donald Trump has been among those calling on Republican state officials to leave.

Virginia Elections Commissioner Susan Beals, in a letter sent Thursday to ERIC, listed several reasons for the decision to end the state’s membership. That included the recent state departures, incomplete participation by Virginia’s bordering states and “increasing concerns regarding stewardship, maintenance, privacy, and confidentiality” of voter information.

Virginia was one of the founding members when ERIC was formed in 2012, an effort promoted by then-Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell.

“In short, ERIC’s mandate has expanded beyond that of its initial intent — to improve the accuracy of voter rolls,” Beals wrote. “We will pursue other information arrangements with our neighboring states and look to other opportunities to partner with states in an apolitical fashion.”

Virginia joins Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia who have either withdrawn or notified ERIC that they plan to do so. Texas election officials have said they are working on an alternative data-sharing effort but have not provided a notice of withdrawal.

ERIC uses data-sharing among member states to identify voters who might have moved out of state or died and should be considered for removal from a state’s voter rolls. It also flags instances of potential double-voting — ballots cast in more than one state by the same voter — that are then used to investigate potential voter fraud.