A voter fills out his poll at an early voting location in Alexandria, Va., on Sept. 26, 2022.
Andrew Harnik/AP
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Andrew Harnik/AP
A voter fills out his poll at an early voting location in Alexandria, Va., on Sept. 26, 2022.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Virginia’s prime elections official wrote a letter Thursday asserting the state would withdraw from the Digital Registration Data Middle, or ERIC, a multistate partnership that till early 2022 was thought of a extensively trusted, bipartisan effort to share voter data.
The transfer makes Virginia the eighth state to depart ERIC amid fringe conservative media reviews and conspiracy theories trying to attach the system to liberal donors and activists.
Virginia’s departure is notable as a result of the state helped get up the system in 2012, below former GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell.
As just lately as three months in the past, Republican voting officers in different states that pulled out had been praising it as a “godsend” and “among the best fraud-fighting instruments we have got.”
However in a letter obtained by member station VPM, Virginia’s present commissioner of elections, Susan Beals, stated a slew of considerations precipitated her to rethink their membership. She cited the exit of close by states, “growing considerations relating to stewardship, upkeep, privateness, and confidentiality of voter data” and “controversy surrounding the historic sharing of knowledge with exterior organizations leveraged for political functions.”
“We are going to pursue different data preparations with our neighboring states and look to different alternatives to associate with states in an apolitical style,” stated Beals.
Beals was appointed to the submit in March by Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She beforehand served as an aide to state Sen. Amanda Chase, who went on to develop into arguably the state’s most distinguished election denier.
Beals didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Youngkin, confirmed in a press release that Virginia was withdrawing from ERIC.
