Iowa’s resignation from a bipartisan group that helps states keep their voter rolls up to date is official as of last Friday.
Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate announced in a tweet in March that Iowa would leave the Electronic Registration Information Center. Three months later, he has not provided new information about the state’s path forward without it.
The group, also known as ERIC, allows member states to share data so they know when someone moves, dies, or votes illegally in more than one state in one election. It also requires members to send voter registration information to people who are likely eligible to vote.
In March, Pate’s spokesperson Jacob Holck said ERIC was one of many tools used to maintain the state’s voter registration list.
“Our office will continue to look at ways to maintain clean, accurate voter rolls and look at new options for obtaining valuable data,” Holck said.
IPR requested an interview and updates about efforts to find new voter data sources, but Pate’s office declined last week and said they have nothing further to add to statements made in March. Holck also did not say whether the state would continue to send voter registration information to potentially eligible voters.
Iowa is one of eight Republican-led states to leave ERIC in the past year. An NPR investigation found the movement to leave ERIC started with articles on a right-wing website that falsely said the group is aimed at helping Democrats win.
Iowa State Association of County Auditors President Amanda Waske, who is also the top election official in Ringgold County and a Republican, declined to be interviewed about how leaving ERIC would affect local election workers.
In an emailed statement, she said counties did not work directly with ERIC, but the state sent the information to county auditors.
“We will still be able to get the information needed to maintain our records, so there is no direct impact to counties with the [secretary of state] leaving ERIC,” Waske said. “In Iowa there is so much list maintenance performed on an annual basis, I am confident in an accurate election database.”
Story County Auditor Lucy Martin, a Democrat, said county election officials will continue their daily maintenance of voter records. But it could become more difficult.
“We spend significant amounts of local property tax dollars to do this,” she said. “And so throwing away a really good tool like ERIC is disappointing, to say the least.”
Martin said states will continue to share information, but it can be a slow process that involves physical mail and often relies on voters to say when they’ve moved.
“Doing that is time consuming, right? It takes up a lot of, you know, people resources,” she said. “And so ERIC automated a lot of that and was, I think, a great time saver for all participants.”
Martin said county auditors were not involved in sending voter registration information to likely eligible voters identified by ERIC.
Some Republicans have criticized ERIC’s requirement that states send information to potential new voters. Pate’s office did not say if the state will continue that practice.
Why did Iowa leave ERIC?
Pate’s announcement came just weeks after he told NPR that ERIC “is a godsend.”
“I am disappointed in the direction the ERIC organization has taken,” Pate said in his March 17 tweet. “Today’s failed vote to amend the membership agreement doesn’t allow each member to do what’s best for their respective state. Ultimately, the departure of several key states and today’s vote is going to impact the ability for ERIC to be an effective tool for the State of Iowa.”
The failed vote Pate referred to was an attempt to amend ERIC’s bylaws to no longer require states to use ERIC data for specific purposes.
“While ERIC’s data has been valuable, unfortunately large states left the organization and took their data with them,” Holck said in March. “Surrounding states, with useful data, refuse to join. States left ERIC because the organization was telling them how to run their elections instead of letting states choose the appropriate ERIC tools that worked best within their state.”
Martin said the argument that states should leave ERIC because too many states have left ERIC is a “self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Twenty-five states and Washington, D.C. will still be members after Ohio and Virginia’s resignations take effect this summer. Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Missouri and West Virginia have also left.
