AI program flags possible voter registration errors, aims to be used for voter roll maintenance

A new artificial intelligence program that finds voter registration errors can be used for voter roll maintenance, possibly being a replacement for the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). 

Since last year, nine GOP-led states have left ERIC, a multistate voter data-sharing organization that facilitates voter registration and maintenance of voter rolls, amid such concerns as partisan influence, increasing costs and a failure to address voter fraud. 

ERIC calls itself "the most effective tool available to help election officials maintain more accurate voter rolls and detect possible illegal voting." 

The organization’s executive director, Shane Hamlin, wrote in a March 2 open letter on ERIC's website, "We are a member-run, member-driven organization. State election officials — our members — govern ERIC and fund our day-to-day operations through payment of annual dues, which they set for themselves." 

States that have left ERIC, such as Texas and Virginia, are seeking an alternative to the organization that would aid in the maintenance of voter rolls.