Rhode Island Joins ERIC

Correction: An earlier version of this dispatch erroneously stated that Rhode Island had enacted early voting. The state legislature considered but did not pass an early voting measure this year.

In July 2015, Rhode Island became the 13th member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a multistate partnership that uses secure, state-of-the-art technology to provide election officials with the data they need to keep voter lists complete and up-to-date. By participating in ERIC, Rhode Island election administrators will receive comprehensive information about when the state’s voters move or die or when unregistered citizens become newly eligible to vote. Joining ERIC is one of many reforms that Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea outlined earlier this year to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of Rhode Island’s electoral system.

Since its formation in 2012, ERIC has helped states identify more than 100,000 deceased individuals, 2.6 million Americans who have moved from the address in the their voter file, and 41,000 duplicate records, as well as nearly 12 million eligible but unregistered citizens. These numbers are expected to increase as more states join the organization. The other 12 members of ERIC are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

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