Ohio Secretary of State deputy was chair of multi-state effort to fight voter fraud. So why did Frank LaRose withdraw …

COLUMBUS—Secretary of State Frank LaRose has followed through on his threat to withdraw Ohio from a multi-state voter information database, saying the states who run the organization rejected some of his proposed reforms to address conservative criticism.

LaRose has been a prominent advocate of the bipartisan Electronic Registration Information Center, and one of his top deputies chaired the organization last year. But now, LaRose, a potential 2024 U.S. Senate candidate, has said he’s given up his attempts to “save” ERIC from potential demise, and his office is now downplaying the organization’s usefulness in helping to stop voter fraud in Ohio.

ERIC is now the target of conspiracy theories that liberals are using it to rig elections, though there isn’t any evidence to show that’s true. As scrutiny over the group has increased, Republicans in several other states have joined LaRose in departing, though LaRose’s stated reasons don’t reference such conspiracy theories.

What ERIC does and doesn’t do

The nonprofit allows member states – down to 27 plus Washington, D.C., after Ohio leaves in mid-June – to keep their voter registration lists up to date by sharing data from other states’ voter files and motor vehicle records, which appeals to Republican opposition to voter fraud. It also appeals to Democrats by requiring members to send postcards to eligible voters encouraging them to register to vote.

However, LaRose and his office say that, unlike in other states, Ohio law prohibits LaRose’s office from using ERIC data to cancel inactive or ineligible voter registrations. Rather, ERIC information is sent to county boards of elections, which send letters to people who are flagged in the data asking them to cancel their voter registration if it’s true that they’re no longer eligible to vote there.

LaRose spokesman Rob Nichols said that Ohio elections officials maintain voter rolls here through a separate National Change of Address database and efforts by county boards of elections.

Ohio’s main use of ERIC data is to investigate potential cases of illegal cross-state voting. Last October, LaRose referred 75 people for investigation and possible prosecution for voting in Ohio and another state during the 2020 general election.

LaRose, in a March 22 letter, downplayed the importance of ERIC, saying Ohio’s membership – which cost the state more than $67,000 this year – “produced rapidly diminishing returns” as states left and some larger states refused to join in the first place. “We likely will need to consider state-specific list exchanges to do that analysis in the future,” LaRose wrote. “We’ve already started those conversations.”

LaRose, in the letter, noted that after he issued his threat several weeks ago to leave ERIC, critics – including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican – said Ohio and other states that are withdrawing would have less accurate voter rolls and more illegal voting.

“It’s unfortunate that critics of our decision didn’t take the time to get the facts before offering an opinion,” LaRose wrote.

Reasons for leaving

While LaRose didn’t cite conservative conspiracy theories about ERIC in his March 17 withdrawal letter, he wrote that one reason Ohio was leaving was because the group was becoming increasingly partisan in favor of Democrats.

One of LaRose’s main arguments for leaving is that the group’s member states, during its March 17 meeting, didn’t vote to accept his proposed reform to relax the group’s rules regarding how often eligible but unregistered voters should be sent a postcard.

Member states agreed to another of LaRose’s demands – that ERIC eliminate ex officio, or non-voting members. Many conservatives have accused ERIC co-founder David Becker – an ex officio member until he resigned earlier this month – of sharing sensitive voter information with liberal groups, a baseless claim that Becker and the group deny. However, LaRose officials say they had to struggle to get that reform passed over attempted roadblocks thrown up by ERIC staff.

“ERIC has chosen repeatedly to ignore demands to embrace reforms that would bolster confidence in its performance, encourage growth in its membership, and ensure not only its present stability but also its durability,” LaRose wrote.

Nichols said it was “flat wrong” to suggest that LaRose withdrew Ohio from ERIC because he wanted to build favor with conservative voters ahead of the 2014 election season. “The reasons that we left ERIC are laid out very, very clearly in the (withdrawal) letter,” he said.

‘Ohio knows that it runs ERIC’

A high-ranking official from LaRose’s office – state elections director Mandi Grandjean – chaired the organization last year. LaRose himself praised ERIC as recently as last month as “one of the best tools that we have for maintaining the accuracy of our voter files.”

Becker said in an interview that it’s odd to him that LaRose is portraying ERIC as an adversarial third party when he and his office have, until now, helped to run the organization.

“Ohio clearly knows that data was not shared inappropriately in any way. Ohio knows the data is secure. Ohio knows that it runs ERIC,” Becker said. “I just find it really odd to hear the states criticizing an organization that they run.”

Last Tuesday, state Sen. Bill DeMora, a Columbus Democrat, announced he submitted an amendment to a pending elections bill to require LaRose to maintain membership in ERIC. However, it’s questionable whether DeMora’s proposal will pass, given he would need the support of legislative Republicans, who dominate both houses of the Ohio General Assembly.