Today, Ohio joined five other states in jumping off the sputtering, belching, off-gassing Titanic. You see, ERIC, the Electronic Registration Information Center, hit an iceberg. Its name was Truth.
What do Ohio, Missouri, Florida, West Virginia, Alabama, and Louisiana have in common? If you guessed they all bailed from the flailing Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), you would be correct. Today, Ohio joined the survivors of the sputtering, belching, off-gassing Titanic. You see, ERIC hit an iceberg.
Its name was Truth.
Secretary Frank LaRose’s letter is the most scathing rebuke to ERIC yet. https://www.restorationofamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Ohio-ERIC-Withdrawal-Letter.pdf
“This decision does not come without careful thought and extensive conversations with my counterparts in the organization,” LaRose wrote, and then he dispensed with the niceties.
“The action Ohio is taking today follows nearly a year of good faith, bipartisan efforts to reform ERIC’s oversight and services. Unfortunately, these attempts to save what could be an unparalleled election integrity service have fallen short.”
He continued,
ERIC has chosen repeatedly to ignore demands to embrace reforms that bolster confidence in its performance [and] encourage growth in its membership . . . .
Rather, you have chosen to double-down on poor strategic decisions, which have only resulted in the transformation of a previously bipartisan organization to one that appears to favor only the interests of one political party.
. . . I cannot justify the use of Ohio’s tax dollars for an organization that seems intent on rejecting meaningful accountability, publicly maligning my motives, and waging a relentless campaign of misinformation about this effort. The conduct of ERIC and some of its hyper-partisan allies in recent weeks only heightens my suspicion and reinforces my decision [emphasis added].
LaRose was on a roll.
“Additionally, I cannot accept the board’s refusal – for a third time –to adopt basic reforms to the use of ERIC’s data-sharing services.”
Ohio's SOS was referring to the group’s transmission of private data to ERIC founder David Becker’s activist group, the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR).
“This should be a non-controversial policy, yet you have chosen to make it a hyperbolic, partisan fight that has fractured ERIC."
Operative word, fractured.
Cracked and pulverized by the Buckeye State. Now, come on honest Constitutional states. Follow your brethrens' lead.
Have a terrific weekend.
Patrice Johnson, Chair
Pure Integrity Michigan Elections