Florida Withdraws From Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) Amid Concerns About Data Privacy and Blatant Partisanship
Press release from Florida Department of State
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Secretary of State Cord Byrd notified the Electronic Registration Information Center, Inc. (ERIC), that Florida is terminating its ERIC Membership. Today’s announcement follows efforts led by Florida over the past year to reform ERIC through attempts to secure data and eliminate ERIC’s partisan tendencies, all of which were rejected. Withdrawing from ERIC will ensure the data privacy of Florida voters is protected. Florida is joined in withdrawing from ERIC Membership today by the states of Missouri and West Virginia.
“As Secretary of State, I have an obligation to protect the personal information of Florida’s citizens, which the ERIC agreement requires us to share,” said Secretary of State, Cord Byrd. “Florida has tried to back reforms to increase protections, but these protections were refused. Therefore, we have lost confidence in ERIC.”
In 2022, a working group of ERIC member states was formed and proposed necessary changes to the ERIC Membership agreement. These reforms would have eliminated concerns about ERIC’s potential partisan leanings and made the information shared with ERIC more secure.
Specifically, Florida backed the working group’s proposals, including increased protections for confidential voter information and limiting the power of ex-officio partisan members of the ERIC board. These ex-officio partisan members are not representatives of specific states and have undue influence over the organization and its decisions.
However, given the unwillingness of ERIC to address these significant issues of electoral integrity, it is in the best interest of Florida, its citizens, and its voters to withdraw its membership from ERIC.
Hallelujah and amen!
Cool..
Good
This was a bad idea. But not surprising.
So Marge? Please share with us why you think it was a bad idea.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/three-gop-states-withdraw-from-voter-data-organization-eric/
M.dS., Do you realize you are citing the web site run by one of the most hyper-partisan actors in the voting and voter eligibility space as support for your assertion? His mission in life is to elect Democrats by any means necessary; legal or not.
I asked for the reason YOU thought it was a bad idea.
Does anyone know how one could withdraw their membership from Gainesville without having to move? Ah, in a perfect world.
The Springs County concept?
You’re right Pander. It is the right of the people who live in the proposed boundaries to vote in that possibility. Gilchrist county was formed in 1925 out of Alachua county because AC wouldn’t give them a good road into town. Springs county has proposed lower property taxes to support that county and I’m sure all the new developments affected would vote “yes”.
Commute to Lake City. If Gainesville wasn’t here, neither would most of you.
Wonderful news! Election integrity is vital, and a partisan compiler of election results is a problem, especially when the concerns of the voters are dismissed.
Noted that the Florida Sec of State is not specific in her complaints of partisanship, which is about the fact that a board member, as part of the Pew Charitable Trust, which helped set up the center, has publicly opposed the Trump big lie on the 2020 election being stolen. That isn’t partisanship, that is sanity, and the only partisanship here is the turning of our once proud and model state government into a GOP prop.