Newsletter: Newest Threats to American Democracy

A Note from David Becker, CEIR Executive Director

Friends,

Many of you are aware of the newest threats to democracy, which are designed to target the people who secure the integrity of U.S. elections. In the last week, we’ve seen new reports detailing the attacks on Maricopa County official Bill Gates, and that disinformation is now focused on one of the single most important tools to ensure election integrity, the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).

ERIC is a tool that I helped create in 2012. It is a nonprofit, run by states that voluntarily choose to be members, that helps them identify voters who have moved, voters who have died, and possible instances of illegal double voting. It also assists states in directing potentially eligible voters to secure and convenient online voter registration, instead of less-secure and burdensome paper registration forms. I served on the ERIC board as a non-voting member for nearly its entire existence, until last week, when my term expired, and I informed ERIC that I would not accept renomination as a non-voting member of the board.

I remain very proud of leading the effort to create ERIC, and for supporting its expansion to over half the states in a decade. The truth is that ERIC remains the best tool to keep voter lists accurate, and combat voter fraud. In a decade, the system has helped over 30 states correct 35 million records of voters who had moved, clean one million duplicate records, and remove over 500,000 dead voters from the voter lists. It’s an effective, common sense solution.

Unfortunately, in the past year, attacks fueled by disinformation about ERIC, CEIR and myself, have led to some states – all Republican led – to diminish their own ability to maintain election integrity.

Election officials and voters are the ones who will bear the brunt of this mistake.

States that leave ERIC will see more dead voters and voters who have moved away on their lists, and reduce their ability to detect double-voting. As a result, they will likely see longer voting lines, more undeliverable mail, and take longer to count ballots.

This is all part of a larger campaign to weaken democracy, as election officials continue to face threats and harassment. Almost all those public servants have stood firm for truth, democracy, election integrity, and the voters, often at great cost. The recent disinformation has actually led to an increase in threats to election officials and those that support their work.

Supporting election officials of both parties will continue to be the core work of CEIR and our Election Official Legal Defense Network. Recent attacks and disinformation have made that work more crucial than ever, and we will not let up in our efforts to counter the lies and elevate the truth. Please support our efforts to push back on these attacks, and help us support those who defend U.S. democracy today.

Sincerely, David Becker

Watch: Election Denialism in America

David Becker, CEIR Executive Director, summarized the findings of a new CEIR poll of GOP voters. The findings show that GOP voters are somewhat more confident in U.S. elections now, but many still believe unfounded conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud.

Becker also gave a readout of a focus group of election deniers convened in Arizona by pollster Frank Luntz, which explored the media landscape, and who those skeptical of U.S. elections really trust.