Ohio pulls out of voter registration database targeted by GOP skeptics

Ohio pulled out of a multistate voter registration database Friday as GOP criticism mounts against a little-known system championed for curbing election fraud.

The Election Registration Information Center, known as ERIC, was founded by Republican and Democratic election officials in 2012 to help states maintain accurate voter rolls. As a member state, Ohio would submit voter registration data and driver’s license information to help identify voters who died, moved or had duplicate registrations.

Members must also mail registration information to residents who aren’t signed up to vote. Ohio first joined ERIC in 2016.

Election officials, including Secretary of State Frank LaRose, have emphasized the importance of keeping accurate voter rolls to prevent fraud. But LaRose told the organization after its meeting Friday that Ohio will leave because it failed to implement reforms he called for.

“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,” LaRose wrote to ERIC executive director Shane Hamlin.

LaRose’s decision follows the departure of several other Republican-leaning states, including Florida and Missouri. ERIC’s critics contend the group is a liberal effort to register more voters and falsely claim that it’s funded by philanthropist George Soros, a frequent target of GOP ire. (Member states fund ERIC. It got some initial assistance from Pew Charitable Trusts, which received funding from Soros, according to the Washington Post.)