Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed Democrat legislation on Friday that sought to force the commonwealth into rejoining the leftist-linked voter roll “maintenance” group known as ERIC.
“I have been explicitly clear about my affirmation of the legitimacy of our elections,” Youngkin wrote. “My focus is safeguarding Virginians’ private information and continuously improving an efficient, cost-effective voter registration system.”
Passed by the Virginia General Assembly along party lines, the Democrat-backed SB 606 mandated the state rejoin the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, a widely used voter-roll “management” system founded by far-left activist David Becker that was “sold to states as a quick and easy way to update their voter rolls.” In reality, ERIC’s membership agreement places a higher priority on registering new voters than on cleaning up existing voter rolls.
Virginia Elections Commissioner Susan Beals informed ERIC in May 2023 that the commonwealth would be exiting the program, citing concerns about the “confidentiality of voter information” and “controversy surrounding the historical sharing of data with outside organizations leveraged for political purposes.” Youngkin highlighted these concerns in his Friday veto and noted the “financial burden of rejoining ERIC includes membership fees, which have increased more than 115% since 2022.”
“ERIC’s mandatory Eligible but Unregistered mailing will cost the Commonwealth hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is superfluous considering Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles’ automatic registration policies and same-day registration for voting,” Youngkin wrote.
Since exiting the program, Virginia has entered interstate voter data-sharing pacts with six states to replace the functions ERIC performs. Youngkin noted that these
