The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) is a nonprofit organization in the United States whose goal is to improve electoral integrity by helping states improve the accuracy of voter rolls, increase access to voter registration, reduce election costs, and increase efficiencies in elections.
[7] Follow-up research in some states concluded that 10-20% of those contacted had later registered to vote, a high response rate for direct mailings.
ERIC's website publishes statistics on the number of deceased voters, in-state and out-of-state movers, and duplicate registrations that it has reported to member states.
Maryland and Illinois state administrators said determining a person's current home address can present problems.
ERIC was launched in 2012 by elections officials from seven states with logistical and financial support from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
[14] In 2022, The Gateway Pundit, a conservative news website that does not follow industry standards of credibility and transparency, published a number of articles implying the program was part of a left-wing election conspiracy, despite the participation of both Democratic and Republican-led states.
Because businessman George Soros had previously donated to the Pew Trusts, opponents of ERIC accused the program of being a "voter registration vehicle for Democrats."
[28] One of the main complaints was how ERIC requires member states to perform outreach to unregistered voters to encourage them to register.
Virginia's commissioner of elections Susan Beals said concerns about data security and stewardship were the basis of her decision.
[33] NPR has reported that far-right conspiracy theorists claimed that ERIC was not impartial, though there were at the time as many Republican as Democratic members.
[34][35] Despite several attempts to do so, states departing ERIC have yet to replace it with an alternate system that addresses election integrity concerns.