By DAN FAGAN
Three Republican-led states on Monday announced they’re cutting ties with an election information organization that has history with liberal groups such as the Pew Charitable Trust and George Soros.
In 2012, left-wing activists founded the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC. The nonprofit claimed it would help states clean up their voter roles. But critics says the opposite is true.
Florida, West Virginia, and Missouri announced they’ll end their alliance with ERIC. Already, Alabama and Louisiana had left the organization, having lost faith in its neutrality.
Alaska, along with 30 other states, is a member of ERIC. Alaska’s recently appointed head of the Division of Elections, Carol Beecher, sits on ERIC’s board. Beecher is not paid for the position, and it should be noted that all member states have someone on the ERIC board.
Beecher is a conservative who was criticized by Democrats when she was appointed by Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom. Criticism centered on the fact that she is a registered Republican and had donated money to the campaign of former President Donald Trump.
As of this writing, Beecher has not responded to Must Read Alaska’s request for a comment on the five Republican-led states that left the organization, and whether her department will follow suit.
Read the Florida Department report on election crimes
Member states are required to provide ERIC with highly coveted voter information that could prove useful for partisans looking to influence an election.
States aligned with ERIC must submit to the organization all details on inactive and active voters every 60 days. The states must also provide names of every individual in their Motor Vehicle Department database, both licensed and ID recipients.
This comprehensive information could prove to be a gold mine for bad actors wishing to manufacture illegal ballots.
ERIC sells itself as a group aiming to help states clean up voter rolls. But the organization’s bylaws prove otherwise.
ERIC issues a list to each member state and demands they target those people for registration, although ERIC does not actually require states clean up voter rolls.
The Gateway Pundit described ERIC as “a left wing voter registration drive all paid for by the states, not the Democrat Party.”
Conservatives have been skeptical of ERIC, not just because of the group’s early ties to Soros and Pew, but the organization’s architecture was designed by David Becker, who is a major player in Democrat circles.
Becker was the point man in distributing Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg’s millions in so called “Zuckerbucks,” that appeared designed to elect Joe Biden in 2020.
Soros has spent millions nationally fighting laws designed to bring about election integrity. Soros also funds, through ProPublica, the Anchorage Daily News. The ADN editorial board has been aggressive in attacking and demonizing any political figure who questions the integrity of Alaska’s elections.
Many Alaskans are skeptical of ERIC. Offering valuable voter data to a leftist-aligned group may only deepen the suspicion.
Alaskans have seen problems with voter databases and elections being tampered with:
In October of 2020, hackers penetrated Alaska’s election computers. The Division of Elections waited until after the November election to reveal that the personal information of 100,000 Alaskans had been compromised and that the state would be paying for credit and ID monitoring through Equifax for those voters.
State Sen. Mike Shower, a Republican representing Wasilla and north in the Interior Railbelt, pushed for legislation to clean up Alaska voter rolls. Currently close to 600,000 Alaskans are registered to vote. This is mathematically impossible when factoring in those living in the state under the voting age of 18.
Then there’s the case of former Republican legislator Gabrielle LeDoux. LeDoux is charged with first degree voter misconduct, a class C felony punishable up to two years in prison among other things. LeDoux’s alleged crimes happened during the 2014 election, according to state prosecutors. She has yet to go to trial, and the trial date has been pushed to this upcoming August.
Voters may wonder if Alaska courts or state leaders take seriously the job of maintaining election integrity, especially if the State continues to align itself with and provide valuable voter data to an organization with such ties to George Soros.
Dan Fagan is a reporter for Must Read Alaska. Email news tips to [email protected].
I did NOT give my permission to have my information distributed to ANY group! Where in statute is that legal. It certainly isn’t ethical!
Great point !!! and another example of how poorly we have been served by those in charge of out elections these past years!!..if they had all that information on each of us our voter rolls should be up to date and we all know that not to be the case..
Alaska DMV and Alaska Elections both send a complete list of our personal information to ERIC. I have written many times to the administration about getting us out of this, opt out. This data is a dream to anyone nefarious players wanting to steal our identity, not just our ballots. I worked IT for the state. I found this atrocious and i want my information blocked too!
We were not served well by Kevin Meyers he had 4 years to clean up voter rolls and stop mail in voting but did nothing to stop any of the election fraud that took place. hopefully we are in a better place now with a new LT and her new election team….Alaskans are watching and waiting and taking the State out of the ERIC would be a good clean up step for us all…
Try contacting Dahlstrom or Dunleavy regarding election integrity. Meet Kaitlyn for the dodge.
Wes Allen, Alabama secretary of state went to ERICS office headquarters, and found vacant offices.
Just another part of the domestic USA color revolution played on the American people. ‘https://www.sos.alabama.gov/index.php/newsroom/wes-allen-finds-vacant-virtual-office-eric-address
This MRAK hit piece is so full of misinformation it is not worth responding to
“Misinformation” = facts and truths that radical leftists refuse to acknowledge.
Facts
You’re the disinformation fool Frank. You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you on the nose. This didn’t even cover the voter rolls and people with fake addresses. Go back to your safe place.
Actually, it does not go far enough. ERIC gets our personal information every month, with every little change of data between DMV and elections, the information is complied and compared, they go after anyone with an id or license without a voter registration and get them onto the demoncratic voter rolls….. maybe you need it spoon fed to you, this is truth, very ugly truth. We are all exposed here.
Alaska. We are encumbered with ERIC. We are also encumbered with the results of the Motor Voter law which places a minimum of two years to remove known non-residents, who sign paperwork to remove themselves. This federal law must change.
The capper is a state bureaucracy completely apathetic to the idea of changing anything via legal action. Meyers was one problem and Dahlstrom has not demonstrated any interest either.
Suzanne, a follow up on how signatures are verified, the training, certification of the personnel is necessary. The same for witness confirmation. Finally, a definite ironclad answer on who and what process is required to change state election laws.
From what i understand, the signatures used for elections verification are the ones within the DMV. The elections officials verify id thru DMV photo and signature.
Well governor where do you stand with true elections and real people or fake elections with apartments with occupancy way over the legal limit. We don’t need anymore help giving our private information to the dark web. Stand tall and get rid of ERIC.
Thank you Suzanne for making this election changer a talking point.
The governor should put a pause on all electronic personal information being sent to any organization paying for the data. Our information should only be used when we are conducting state or givernmental business. I do not consent to my data being sold to any entity, ERIC pays the state for our data, this is a terrible revenue stream. I am opting out governor, your turn.
Unless the Governor gets involved,we are screwed. Mail in voting,except by absentee, should be illegal. It is the state government’s job to ensure voting integrity is ensured. No exceptions for local government. City charters do not override this responsibility, any more than they can override state or federal law. The Anchorage assembly can’t even follow the rules of the charter, so why are our elections being controlled by a city clerk who works for them? It’s the same as accepting that some villages can only vote if they followed a certain criteria. There’s many people in Anchorage that refuse to vote by mail. Is a questioned ballot their only recourse? And why has voting in person became so difficult, since the mail in ballots cost much more of taxpayers money. The municipality cannot even source the mail in ballots locally, and use an outfit in Seattle. I have some confidence in the state run elections, but have reason to believe that our local elections are subject to corruption and that investigation should be done at the state level, or even the federal level if necessary. Voting is one of our sacred rights. If our state government can’t ensure it, then maybe the federal government should. If they cannot, then maybe they all should get what they deserve. Enough of this BS. If you actually voted for people like Forest Dunbar, then I suggest that you stay on your side of the river, for your safety. What the heh. We believe in family, God, and America in the North. We have no use for your politics north of the river.
Why can’t voting be completed in 1 day ? Maybe the government should make it a paid holiday ( state and federal workers love those ) . If France can count their votes 8n day there’s no reason why America can’t do it
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