amna: A new invnvtigative report
reveals the roots of a growing
movement to unravel a critical
election integrity tool.
The tool is called Eric or the
electronic registration
information center.
Simply it checks voter
registration rolls from
participating states against
databases from other agencies,
like social security or a state
DMV.
That helps states keep track of
voters who passed away, or
moved into or out of the state,
translating into a more accurate
and up to date list of eligible
voters.
NPR's miles parks has covered
election security for years.
He joins me now to unpack what
he found and the potential
impact on voter rolls across the
country.
Good to see you.
This system is created to
improve the accuracy of voter
rolls to help prevent voter
fraud.
Do we know if it was working?
Miles: I think election
officials, both Democrats and
Republicans say it was.
I had been covering voting for
almost six years.
.
And never heard anyone criticize
Eric until last year.
The program in 2021 caught more
than 3 million records that were
out of date for people that
moved states.
Amna: And support on both sides
of the aisle.
There were as many as 33 member
states in the district of
Columbia taking part, and then
an exodus of sorts began.
Your team uncovered video of one
official in Louisiana, the
secretary of state in January of
2022 announcing at an event
Louisiana would be quitting the
program.
Here is that moment.
>> This week, I signed a letter,
a senate letter to the election
registration information.
To spending Louisiana's
participation in that program.
-- Suspending Louisiana's
participation in that program.
Amna: The applause that struck
me.
How do people know about this
program?
Why did they care and why did
they want to be out of it?
Miles: I was struck because I
thought I was the only person
who knew what Eric was.
You have this room full of
people who were passionate about
it.
A week before that event, a far
right website called the gateway
pundit started writing articles
about Eric, saying it was a
left-wing conspiracy to help
Democrats steal elections.
None of that was true, but it
started moving towards becoming
a pressure campaign where we saw
it start on this fringe website
make its way to these local
integrity groups that have
popped up since 2020, all over
the country and found its way to
state lawmakers, to state
election officials, their
emails, phone calls.
We saw this entire pressure
campaign build around E.R.I.C.
Until a number of states thought
it was untenable.
Amna: How did it spread so
quickly?
Who was talking about it and how
many more groups like that one
are there out there?
Miles: Our investigations
centered on a key trump ally, a
very influential attorney
Republican election who hosts a
podcast about voting that she
used to spread anti-eric
misinformation.
She runs a coalition of
grassroots groups all over the
country and she was telling all
of these people, go to your
state lawmakers.
Tell them to withdraw from
E.R.I.C.
She and a lot of the people in
this world are claiming victory.
Amna: When you look at the map,
we mentioned there were 33
states and the district of
Columbia taking part in this
E.R.I.C. Program.
And you see the member states at
some point.
We will show you the eight
states that have since left.
Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Louisiana,
Virginia, Florida, and Alabama,
all Republican led.
This program works when states
take part in it.
What are we talking about in
terms of potential impact when
states leave the program?
Miles: What we are talking about
is less efficient and less
secure elections.
That is what every election
official has told me.
Over time, if you have slight
inaccuracies in your voter
rolls, it will not be the next
day after a staples out.
And it means is over it can mean
longer lines at precincts
because they are less targeted
for where people are living.
It can mean election mail which
can be information, mail ballots
getting sent to the wrong
places, which can be a security
issue as well as inefficiency.
Taxpayer dollars are going to
pay for mail not being received
by voters.
There are all these different
downstream he -- downstream
effects from having less
accurate voter rolls.
The election experts I talked to
were as concerned about what
this says about the power of the
election to noun movement in
this country.
We have seen this growing group
of people motivated by former
president trump to push these
ideas that the 2020 election was
stolen.
We have not seen them get a lot
of victories in terms of policy.
We have not seen a lot of states
go back to hand counting
ballots, or get rid of mail
voting or early voting.
This is something that they
planted their flag on last year
and we are seeing states
respond.
Amna: Is it fair to say, and
people should go to the website
to read your report for the
incredible reporting, these are
groups arguing they want to
prevent voter fraud?
They want to protect election
integrity.
It seems like by leaving this
program, they are doing the
opposite.
Miles: That is the common
through-line with a lot of the
election denial movement.
Pushing for policies in the name
of election integrity that are
actually hurting election
integrity.
And infant hand counting
ballots, something that is a big
priority.
We know from research that hand
counting ballots is a much less
accurate way than using machines
to count them.
Amna: Is it fair to say that we
will see other states leaving?
Miles: It is very possible.
Texas looks like they are up
next.
Amna: Miles parks of NPR,
fantastic reporting.
Thank you for joining us.
Miles: Thank you for having me.