First Up: Florida bolts from voter rolls integrity group, citing "partisan tendencies"

In August 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis – just barely eight months in office – trumpeted that the state would join the nonprofit Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, “as part of his administration’s ongoing efforts to enhance the security and integrity of Florida’s elections.” 

“Joining ERIC is the right thing to do for our state as it will ensure our voter rolls are up-to-date and it will increase voter participation in our elections,” DeSantis said then. “... (B)y improving the accuracy of our voter rolls, we will reduce the potential for voter fraud.” The idea was that data matches by ERIC could “identify voters registered in two states, voters who have moved between states and voters who have died,” the News Service of Florida reported, allowing county elections officials “to identify and remove people no longer eligible to vote.” 

Fast forward to today, when conservative websites turned against the group, saying it was a George Soros-funded, left-wing conspiracy “to bolster Democrat political machines.” Surprise! Secretary of State Cord Byrd – a DeSantis appointee and the state’s chief elections officer – on Monday announced Florida was leaving ERIC (Missouri and West Virginia quit too), which had purportedly rejected all efforts to reform itself, including “attempts to secure data and eliminate ERIC’s partisan tendencies.” 

By the way, ERIC executive director Shane Hamlin last week wrote an open letter, explaining “members retain complete control over their voter rolls and … we follow widely accepted security protocols for handling data.” Nothing about partisan leanings, though.

– Jim Rosica