Voting: #Virginia Dems Call Out Youngkin on Electronic Registration Info Center Move
After Virginia Commissioner of Elections Susan Beals removed Virginia from the Electronic Registration Information Center last week, Democrats are asking what’s next for voter protection in Virginia.
As the WaPo pointed out on May 12 when the Beals removed Virginia from the Electronic Registration Information Center, “the move is especially surprising given that a leader of the Election Integrity Unit established by Attorney General Jason S. Miyares defended the group within the past year for its ability to help the state clean up its voter rolls and crack down on people who might try to vote in multiple states.”
According to their website the, “Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization created by and comprised of state election officials from around the United States founded in 2012.”
ERIC is funded and run by states that choose to join. The Electronic Registration Information Center is working to maintain more, “accurate voter rolls and detect possible illegal voting. ERIC also helps states reach out to potentially eligible but not yet registered individuals with information on how best to register to vote.”
Last week, Virginia became the eighth Republican controlled state to leave the Electronic Registration Information Center system.
“We made it easier to register to vote on the same day and with automatic voter registration. Every Virginian, irrespective of their race or zip code, has a fundamental right to vote. Leaders in Virginia in Richmond have a responsibility to make sure voting is as easy, safe and accessible as possible to all Virginians,” said State Senator Mamie Locke (D), who represents Hampton, at a press conference in Richmond yesterday.
“Today, our fundamental right to vote is under attack. Just recently, Glenn Youngkin and Virginia Republicans unleashed their latest attempt to undermine our democracy and make it harder for Virginians to vote. Youngkin’s top elected official pulled Virginia out of a long running bipartisan interstate voter program that helps officials maintain their voter rolls and encourages states to register new voters.
Virginia actually helped set up this system under Republican Governor Bob McDonnell. But now it is the subject of lies and conspiracy theories from MAGA Republicans,” Locke concluded.
A number of Republicans around the country have become election deniers and have dodged direct questions regarding whether President Joseph Biden, who defeated Donald Trump by over 8 million votes in November 2020, was duly elected.
Lying and denying the results of the 2020 election was ignited by President Trump in 2016 before the November election, during his presidency and again after his second nationwide run for the presidency. Other Republicans have joined Trump in spreading those lies and conspiracy theories. None of those theories have been verified as true.
One hundred and thirty nine members of Congress voted against certifying Biden’s election in January 2021 and an attack on the U.S. Capitol was ignited by false information on social media platforms — primarily Facebook. Election denying, straight up lying and false information and unfounded declarations of “rigged” elections is now standard Republican public policy.
Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 against Hillary Clinton but won the electoral college map — and the election. Republican presidential candidates continue to lose the popular vote in the general election, a trend that cemented itself in 2000. Trump lied in the months before the 2016 election and made claims of voter fraud perhaps sensing defeat. Trump’s lies were then amplified and repeated by other Republicans on the federal, state and local level. Those Republicans created new laws based off the falsehoods.
“Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!,” Trump declared falsely on twitter in 2016. Threats to election workers have also increased.
Notably, Virginia Congresswoman Jen Kiggans refused to answer a question posed to her repeatedly by WAVY TV correspondent Andy Fox during the 2022 election cycle as to whether President Biden was duly elected.
With so many members of the Republican Party lying to the public about election security, Democrats are speaking out against the falsehoods and the policy changes related to them. Voting disfranchisement in Virginia is not new and has a long history particularly directed negatively at Black voters.
“Last week, the Board of Elections joined other MAGA extremists in withdrawing from the Electronic Registration Information Center. This multi-state bipartisan organization has been used for years they helped me have elections more secure.
They made this move even as their own incompetence has made our systems decidedly less secure. There was a data breach recently, where they issued 6 million Virginia social security numbers and other personal information. The administration says they will replace the error system, but how can we trust them when they've already shown they're not competent enough to be trusted to safeguard our current data? And you usually don't repeal and replace something without a plan to replace it,” said House Democratic Leader Don Scott yesterday.
Leader Scott was referring to several errors by the Virginia Board of Elections that have made headlines in Virginia during Youngkin’s Administration.
The 2023 election cycle and who wins control of the Virginia House and Senate going in to 2024 will answer several questions regarding how far Youngkin’s Administration can go legislatively regrind voting laws in Virginia. Currently Virginia ranks as one of the easiest places in the U.S. to vote.
But Youngkin has greatly reduced the chances of ex-felons to vote by rolling back rights restoration.
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