When you’re concerned about voting integrity, including eliminating duplicate registrations in different states, the first thing you would do is drop your membership in the interstate organization dedicated to checking voter registrations and cleaning voter rolls. Right??
Well, not to a rational actor. But, driven by conspiracy theories and paranoia, the state of Texas took its first steps in abandoning the national Election Registration Information Center (ERIC). (1, 2)
Can we call this “ERIXIT,” please?
ERIC is used by 27 states to check duplicate voter registrations and to clean voter rolls.
ERIXIT will be effective in three months, according to the secretary of state’s resignation letter.
But the secretary of state will be obligated to reinvent the wheel to build a new multistage cross-check program, or to find a “private sector provider” that will do the job for no more than $100,000. Texas doesn’t take voter integrity seriously, if they are counting on cheap-staking the process with an untested system.
Jenna Royal, Texas Democratic Party Director of Voter Protection, had this to say about ERIXIT:
“Texas Republicans have again taken drastic measures based on nothing more than conspiracy theories to undermine the voice of the voters of Texas. If ‘voter fraud’ remains one of Texas Republicans’ greatest concerns, they shouldn’t be leaving the system that prevents it.
“Texas Republicans peddling ‘the Big Lie’ and unfounded conspiracies will bear real-world consequences on our state's ability to reliably and accurately administer elections, and — most importantly— they are knowingly doing this with the intent of destabilizing the process in order to rig the system in their favor. The people of Texas deserve to have their votes counted accurately, and Texans can trust that the Texas Democratic Party’s Voter Protection Department will work day and night to ensure that happens for every Texas voter, regardless of party affiliation.”
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If something makes sense, count on the Republican powers that be to do the opposite.