Gov. Abigail Spanberger has started the process of reentering the Electronic Registration Information Center after former Gov. Glenn Youngkin removed the state from the program.
ERIC, of which Virginia was a founding member under Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, is a national program in which states communicate with one another to keep voter rolls up to date. Twenty-five states and Washington, D.C., currently participate.
“The actions Virginia is taking today are not only critical to allowing all eligible Virginia voters to register and cast their ballot, but to making sure that only Virginians who are eligible to vote are able to vote in our Commonwealth — this year, and in every election into the future,” Spanberger said in her announcement Tuesday night.
The data-sharing system is intended to strengthen election security by alerting officials when voters move away or die, helping keep voter rolls accurate and up to date. At the same time, it helps expand ballot access by giving election officials information to identify and reach eligible voters who’ve recently moved but aren’t yet registered.
ERIC became a target of right-wing conspiracy theories after Jan. 6, 2021, and several Republican states have since left the program.
The Youngkin administration cited rising and uncertain costs after other states left, gaps in participation from neighboring states, and concerns about data privacy and how voter information has been used when leaving the program.
Virginia’s membership and removal has been conducted under executive order by the governor in office at the time.
Now, with Democrats in control of the General Assembly and Executive Mansion, Democrats want to codify Virginia’s membership and make it permanent.
State Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, sponsored a bill that advanced to the governor that would do just that.
“What the governor did, and spent four years doing, was take us out of an organization that we know kept our voter rolls fresh and secure and up to date — and was, quite frankly, the best way to do that,” VanValkenburg said in December during an interview with VPM News. “And because of a conspiracy theory related to Jan. 6 and related to MAGA world, he took us out of that organization.”
Youngkin declined to comment for this story.