Innovation in Synthesizing Big Data: The Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)
David Becker · 2019
Abstract Maintaining accurate, complete voter lists has been a significant and intractable problem. Many eligible voters are not on the lists, which can also be fraught with inaccuracies. These issues lead to major problems downstream in the elections process, and since so much of election reform is viewed through a partisan lens, the inaccuracies can lead to polarizing divisions. Bringing together a group of experts and election officials, a multistate data center was created, called the Electronic Registration Information Center, or “ERIC.” ERIC delivers information on voters who have moved, while also allowing for outreach to those not yet registered. Born in 2012, ERIC has grown from 7 to 26 states and the District of Columbia, including states as red as Alabama, Louisiana, and Utah and states as blue as Connecticut, Illinois, and Oregon. The ERIC states govern ERIC, and pay the full costs of its operations, and security of all data is maintained through rigorous methods. Since its inception, ERIC has enabled states to update nearly 10 million out-of-date voter records, and reach out to over 34 million eligible but unregistered voters, with millions of these new voters registered.