The scrutiny of EagleAI NETwork comes after nine Republican-led states withdrew from the Electronic Registration Information Center, known as ERIC – a once-obscure consortium that was founded a little more than a decade ago as a way for states to share government data to update voter registration rolls in an effort to prevent fraud.ĭavid Becker, founder and executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research who helped create ERIC, said its system remains the gold standard for maintaining voter rolls because the states share confidential data, including dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers, to avoid improperly targeting voters for removal.ĮRIC has been the target of criticism by Trump and conservative activists, who have cast it as swelling voter registration rolls because member states must send out information encouraging eligible residents to register to vote.ĮRIC is funded by the dues paid by members, which now consist of 25 states and Washington, DC, following the spate of recent departures.ĮagleAI NETwork’s proponents are promoting the private system as an ERIC alternative.ĮagleAI NETwork, in documents summarizing its work, said its data could be used by state and local governments, by organizations undertaking outside election audits and by activists doing their own research into the accuracy of voter rolls. ![]() Richards also sent CNN a written response to the Brennan report, saying that his effort is not “part of any larger plan” and that final decisions on how to address potentially problematic voter registrations flagged by the software would rest solely with election officials. He declined to identify the election officials with whom he has had discussions. He said the program’s leaders have spoken to “people in 23 states,” including “quite a few” election officials, but no contracts have been signed. Richards, a physician, said people trained to use the software will share only “accurate” data about potentially ineligible voters with election officials – after reviewing multiple sources of information, including voter rolls, death records from the Social Security Administration, national change-of-address data and publicly available material, such as newspaper obituaries. “We are trying to help validate the voter rolls to improve the integrity of that part of the process,” he said. “Rick” Richards Jr., called the Brennan criticism “total BS.” In an interview with CNN, EagleAI NETwork’s founder, Dr. ![]() ![]() The report cast the tool as seemingly part of a “larger plan to move away from responsible voter list maintenance” that could undermine voting rights.Īmong Brennan’s concerns: The data that EagleAI NETwork plans to use will not “contain enough identifying details to confidently match individuals,” leading its users to potentially target legitimate voters for removal from the rolls. Garber co-authored a recent analysis that called on states and local governments to reject outright any voter registration challenges generated by the software and to bar officials from using it. “EagleAI is another front on the attacks on elections,” said Andrew Garber, a counsel in the Voting Rights and Elections Program at the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice. Georgia, a key battleground state Trump lost and where EagleAI NETwork is based, has been ground zero for mass challenges by conservative activists seeking – largely unsuccessfully – to remove tens of thousands of voters from the rolls in recent elections. The document also touts the platform’s ability to allow people “interested in voter roll accuracy and integrity” to do their own reviews of voter registrations after getting a “license and credentials.”Ĭritics have cast the push as an outgrowth of the deep skepticism around election administration that has taken root among some Republicans following Donald Trump’s 2020 loss. The leaders of the group behind the new effort, known as EagleAI NETwork, describe the software as “the tool of reckoning across the nation” to help validate, maintain and review election rosters, according to a document provided to the Georgia State Elections Board and obtained by CNN through a public records request. Voting rights groups are urging election officials to reject a new tool championed by some conservatives as a way to root out fraudulent voter registrations – arguing that the private software depends on unreliable information and could be used to improperly disenfranchise legitimate voters.
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