GOVERNOR'S VETO

Pursuant to Article V, Section 6, of the Constitution of Virginia, I veto Senate Bill 606, which requires the Commissioner of Elections to apply for, enter into, and maintain membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center.

The decision for the Commonwealth to exit the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) in 2023 was a result of persistent management issues, improper data use, escalating costs, and the inability to meet statutory requirements for border state information sharing

ERIC's reluctance to implement reforms and address a bipartisan working group of member states concerns reflects a departure from its core mission of improving voter roll accuracy, which called into question Virginia’s continued participation.

This is particularly concerning due to the controversy surrounding ERIC's sharing of personal information with external organizations. These organizations are funded by sources that the General Assembly has on a bipartisan basis prohibited Virginia’s election officials from accepting.

The financial burden of rejoining ERIC includes membership fees, which have increased more than 115% since 2022, and participation expenses. ERIC’s mandatory Eligible but Unregistered mailing will cost the Commonwealth hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is superfluous considering Virginia's Department of Motor Vehicles' automatic registration policies and same-day registration for voting.

Since leaving ERIC, Virginia established data-sharing agreements with numerous states incurring no additional costs. Additionally, the Department of Elections has increased its data sources by collaborating with forty-one states to obtain driver's license surrender data, while ERIC only provides data sharing with twenty-five states.

I have been explicitly clear about my affirmation of the legitimacy of our elections. My focus is safeguarding Virginians' private information and continuously improving an efficient, cost-effective voter registration system.

Accordingly, I veto the bill.