R Street Institute Letter of Support for Virginia House Bill 1177 and Senate Bill 606
March 7th, 2024
The Honorable Glenn Youngkin
Governor of Virginia
Patrick Henry Building
1111 E. Broad Street
3rd Floor
Richmond, VA 23219
RE: R Street Institute Support for Virginia House Bill 1177 and Senate Bill 606
Governor Youngkin:
We are writing to you on behalf of the R Street Institute to share our support for House Bill 1177 and Senate Bill 606. The R Street Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan public policy research organization. Our mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government in many areas, including reforms that promote safe, secure, and accessible elections, which is why we have an interest in HB 1177 and SB 606.
Last spring, Virginia withdrew from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) without a sufficient replacement for the valuable multi-state voter registration data it provides. Under HB 1177 and SB 606 Virginia would once again become a member of ERIC.
As you may know, ERIC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization funded by its member states. It was formed in 2012, with Virginia as a founding member, to help strengthen the integrity of voter rolls as citizens move from one state to another by helping states share and compare data.
ERIC leverages voter registration and department of motor vehicle information, which is securely provided by member states every 60 days.[1] Software is used by the organization to identify when a voter moves residences, discover ineligible voters, investigate illegal voting, and provide eligible citizens with voter registration information.[2] This up-to-date data are used to generate reports for member states to use for accurately updating their voter rolls.[3]
In September, Virginia announced it was joining a six-member state voter database system.[4] While we applaud Virginia for trying to recreate a multistate voter list maintenance arrangement, the new six-state consortium is too limited for a state like Virginia. Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans move in and out of Virginia, placing a priority on sharing data with as many states as possible.[5] A better approach would be for the Commonwealth to rejoin ERIC, which has a membership of 25 states and territories, including Maryland and the District of Columbia.[6]
Prior to the establishment of ERIC in 2012, approximately 24 million voter registrations in the United States were invalid or inaccurate.[7] In 2023 alone, ERIC identified around 5.5 million voters who moved across state lines, moved in-state, had duplicate registrations, or who were deceased.[8] Unfortunately, the organization’s effectiveness at averting voter fraud is undermined when states drop out—for both states that leave and those that remain.
HB 1177 and SB 606 will help ensure that Virginia continues to have meticulous information on its voters moving forward. We encourage you to sign these bills into law, prompting Virginia to rejoin ERIC and promote election security.
Thank you for your time and consideration of our request. We welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue with you further.
Sincerely,
Robert Melvin
Senior Manager, State Government Affairs Northeast Region
R Street Institute
[email protected]
Matt Germer
Director, Governance Policy
R Street Institute
[email protected]
CC: Jesse Lynch, Director of Policy, Office of Governor Glenn Youngkin
Nicole Ogburn, Director of Legislative Affairs, Office of Governor Glenn Youngkin
[1] Electronic Registration Information Center, “ERIC Overview,” Last accessed March 6, 2024: https://ericstates.org/
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury, “After ERIC withdrawal, Virginia strikes deals with 6 states to share voter data.” September 20, 2023: https://virginiamercury.com/briefs/after-eric-withdrawal-virginia-strikes-deals-with-6-states-to-share-voter-data/
[5] Internal Revenue Service, “SOI Tax Stats – Migration Data 2020-2021,” last updated Feb. 7, 2024. https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-migration-data-2020-2021
[6] Electronic Registration Information Center, “About ERIC,” Last accessed March 6, 2024: https://ericstates.org/about/
[7] Pew Charitable Trust, “Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient: Evidence That America’s Voter Registration System Needs an Upgrade,” February 14, 2012: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2012/02/14/inaccurate-costly-and-inefficient-evidence-that-americas-voter-registration-system-needs-an-upgrade
[8] Electronic Registration Information Center, “Statistics,” Last accessed March 6, 2024: https://ericstates.org/statistics/