Following several leading Republican election officials’ decision to withdraw their states from a widely used voter-roll management group with ties to left-wing activists, the notoriously Democrat-friendly Politico is attempting to cast the move as a bid to “upend” the “backbone of American elections.”
On Friday, Ohio and Iowa became the latest states to announce their departure from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), an organization with connections to Democrat activist David Becker that was “sold to states as a quick and easy way to update their voter rolls.” In actuality, ERIC inflates voter rolls by requiring member states to contact eligible but unregistered residents to register to vote.
In a letter published shortly after ERIC’s Friday meeting, Ohio Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose blasted the group for “repeatedly” ignoring demands from participating states “to embrace reforms that would bolster confidence in its performance, encourage growth in its membership, and ensure not only its present stability but also its durability.” LaRose was discussing reforms proposed in a separate letter sent to ERIC Executive Director Shane Hamlin on March 6, in which he requested removing” ‘ex-officio membership positions’ from ERIC’s bylaws so as to cut left-wing activist David Becker from its board, as well as no longer requiring states to send out voter registration mailers to unregistered residents.”
In addition to Ohio and Iowa, West Virginia, Florida, and Missouri announcedtheir exit from ERIC earlier this month. Alabama and Louisiana withdrew separately last year.
Rather than provide readers with background information regarding these states’ concerns, Politico state politics reporter Zach Montellaro published an article casually glossing over these issues while accusing departing states of using “conspiratorial-minded reasons” for leaving ERIC. Montellaro characterizes one of these Republican concerns as “a secretive plot by liberals to take control of voter rolls” and repeats ERIC’s accusations against concerned GOP election officials as if they were a matter of fact.
He writes, “Other complaints [from departing states] are more about the structure of the organization … which defenders of the organization say is being used as a false pretense to leave.”
Continue Reading: https://thefederalist.com/2023/03/21/politicos-coverage-of-republican-states-ditching-a-leftist-voter-roll-operation-is-democrat-propaganda-not-news/