Candidate promises to withdraw Alabama from national voter information organization

(WTVY) - Rep. Wes Allen, Republican candidate for Alabama Secretary of State, announced Monday that, if elected, his first act as Secretary of State would be to withdraw Alabama from membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC.

“I do not believe that most Alabamians know that their information is being provided to this outfit and I don’t think they would approve of the annual $25,000 taxpayer-funded membership fee either,” Allen said.

The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) is a non-profit organization with the... — The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) is a non-profit organization with the sole mission of assisting states to improve the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration for all eligible citizens.(Source: Electronic Registration Information Center)

The Electronic Registration Information Center is a nonprofit organization that collects information from member states and then cross-references the data to help states manage and clean up their voter rolls.

ERIC provides reports to states of voters that have died, moved, possible duplicate registrations, and voters that have potentially voted twice.

31 states are members of the ERIC organization: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, 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.

Allen characterized the group as mostly comprised of Democrat-leaning states. And says the organization was started by former members of the Obama administration and groups funded by George Soros.

“There is no justification for any state’s involvement in ERIC but the minute I become Secretary of State, Alabama will be out of it for good.”

ERIC says the organization saves member states money by helping states have cleaner voter rolls and letting member states share the costs of resources like the Social Security death index and data from the US Post Office.

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