Raffensperger asking district attorneys to investigate 17 instances of voter fraud

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is asking for investigations into more than a dozen cases of possible voter fraud related to the 2022 General Election.

State officials discovered the cases thanks to Georgia’s membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center. The ERIC network allows states to share data to improve the accuracy of voter rolls and prevent instances of fraudulent voting.

The Secretary of State’s Office this month announced that it was referring 17 cases of possible double voting to local district attorneys. These individuals are suspected of voting once in Georgia and casting a second ballot in another state.

The district attorneys will evaluate each case and potentially pursue indictments of the suspects. Those found guilty of knowingly voting twice could face up to 10 years in prison and to pay up to a $100,000 fine.    

ERIC flagged cases that span across several Georgia counties, including Barrow, Chatham, Cobb, Douglas, Fannin, Forsyth, Fulton, Morgan and Tift. The names of the suspects were not immediately released.

Participation in ERIC is becoming rarer in red-leaning states. Until recently, ERIC operated as a silent and trusted elections partner for a bipartisan group of states. But as misinformation about the network began to gain traction in conservative groups, the makeup of which states share voter data has shifted.

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What is ERIC?

ERIC, which was founded in 2012 by a group of bipartisan election officials, allows states to use and share government data to remove dead voters from the rolls, discover any instances of voter fraud, and keep track of and register voters when they move to a new address.

The data is pulled from election offices, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Social Security Administration.

The network operated in relative obscurity since its founding until 2022. In early 2022, discussions about ERIC began to percolate in far-right websites and podcasts, with pundits decrying the network as a liberal campaign to sway elections.  

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What happens when states stop sharing voter data?

Within one week of the first mention of ERIC in conservative media, Louisiana began the process of pulling out of the network. Several more states, including Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia, soon followed suit. Many officials from these states had previously praised ERIC for helping curb voter fraud.

In the absence of ERIC, experts warn that states will have dirtier voter rolls. Because the nine states that pulled out of ERIC will no longer be sharing data with the states that remain, voter rolls may become out of date.

“Keeping voter rolls current reduces the opportunity for illegal voting,” Shane Hamlin, executive director of ERIC, told USA TODAY. Though Hamlin notes that illegal voting is “exceedingly rare,” ERIC’s reports help states identify when it does occur. Up-to-date voter rolls “is incredibly valuable and important in terms of protecting the integrity of the elections process.”

Clean voter rolls are especially important for cross-checking alleged voting in two states, as is the case with the 17 Georgians who appear to have voted twice.“In our office, it’s very important that voters understand that we’re going to have fair, honest, and accurate elections,” Raffensperger said in a press conference announcing the alleged voter fraud. It remains to be seen whether that promise will be compromised as some states abandon ERIC, which Raffensperger considers to be “the best and only group capable of detecting double voting across state lines.”