The NPR Politics Podcast How A Beloved Anti-Voter Fraud Tool Fell Victim To Conspiracies
Jun 4, 2023
Miles Parks, NPR's Voting Correspondent, dives deep into the rise and fall of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a tool that once enjoyed bipartisan support for maintaining voter roll integrity. He reveals how conspiratorial narratives, particularly from the far-right, led to significant political pressure to dismantle ERIC. The conversation highlights the impact of misinformation on state withdrawal from ERIC and the broader implications for election integrity across the U.S. Parks provides a gripping look into the intersection of politics, technology, and conspiracy.
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ERIC Targeted
- ERIC, a bipartisan tool to clean voter rolls and catch fraud, became a target of the far-right.
- Cleta Mitchell has actively worked to dismantle ERIC, influencing Republicans to abandon it.
ERIC's Creation
- David Becker, from Pew Charitable Trusts, created ERIC to simplify voting and update voter rolls.
- ERIC identifies voters who move or die, and flags illegal double voting.
Louisiana's Pause
- Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Arduin paused Louisiana's participation in ERIC.
- This decision was influenced by a far-right website called The Gateway Pundit.