Kentucky will stay in the multi-state Electronic Registration Information Center partnership for at least another year, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Kentucky joined the partnership, called ERIC for short, in 2019 after scandals plagued former Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes.
Judicial Watch, a conservative organization, sued Grimes in 2017 for not following the law to keep voter rolls accurate. Grimes also recently received $10,000 in fines from the Executive Branch Ethics Commission for downloading and distributing voter registration data while in public office.
“ERIC is a bipartisan organization of chief election officials in various states; it assists member states in procuring federal data like National Change of Address and in sharing states’ data among each other,” Secretary of State Michael Adams said in a statement. “Its work is funded by these states, not by private individuals.”
However, the system has become controversial in recent years after former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that President Joe Biden stole the 2020 presidential election. This led to his followers claiming issues with the sanctity of U.S. Elections, including in Kentucky.
“Unfortunately, like any effort at bipartisanship in recent history, it has come under attack,” Adams said. “I have consistently defended ERIC against falsehoods about its funding and operations, even risking my re-nomination for this Office to do so. ERIC has helped Kentucky comply with the law and conduct fair elections.”
