Virginia joins Republican states pulling out of multi-state voter list program

Virginia is pulling out of a once-uncontroversial interstate program created to help states maintain accurate voter rolls that have recently drawn the ire of right-wing “election integrity” activists who see it as nefarious.

In a letter sent Thursday to the head of the Washington-based Electronic Registration Information Center, Virginia Elections Commissioner Susan Beals said the state would no longer participate in the data-sharing program despite being one of seven founding states in 2012.

Beals listed a variety of reasons, including increased uncertainty and the declining participation of other Republican-led states, concerns about the “confidentiality of voter information,” and “controversy surrounding the historical sharing of data with outside organizations leveraged for political purposes.”

“In short, ERIC’s mandate has expanded beyond that of its initial intent – to improve the accuracy of voter rolls,” Beals wrote.

The move may be the sharpest policy reversal yet for a Virginia Department of Elections now run by an appointee of  Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who campaigned on election integrity in 2021.

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