DeMora Introduces Amendment to Protect Voters

Today, state Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) submitted an amendment to Senate Bill 71 that would require the Secretary of State’s office to maintain membership in the electronic registration information center (ERIC).

"ERIC is an important collaborative tool used by over half of all states to improve the accuracy of Ohio’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration," DeMora said. “If Secretary LaRose would listen to election officials instead of election deniers, he would know the importance of this program.”

“Ohio has honest, fair and accurate elections because we utilize a variety of tools to protect our process and voter rolls,” said Ed Helvey, a member of the Delaware County Board of Elections. “ERIC is one of those valuable tools. It helps protect Ohio from voter fraud.”

ERIC is a non-profit, non-partisan membership organization that assists in keeping accurate voter rolls. On March 17, Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced that Ohio would no longer be participating in ERIC. Just one month prior, Secretary LaRose called ERIC “one of the best tools that we have for maintaining the accuracy of our voter files” in an interview with NPR.

Senate Bill 71, introduced by Senator Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green), would enact the Data Analysis Transparency Archive (DATA) Act. It has had two hearings in the Senate General Government Committee.