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The Texas secretary of state submitted the state’s resignation Thursday from a national coalition that is one of the best tools Texas has to combat voter fraud, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Votebeat.
The plan to withdraw from the program comes after Republican leaders pushed the effort and approved legislation to stop using the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC, a program states use to check duplicate voter registrations and clean voter rolls. The campaign to withdraw was underway among members of the Texas Republican Party and Republican lawmakers for more than a year, but was rooted in misinformation and election conspiracy theories.
According to the secretary of state’s resignation letter, the state’s resignation will be effective in three months, in accordance with the program’s bylaws. By then, a law approved by the Texas Legislature this session, authored by Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes, will have gone into effect. That legislation directs the secretary of state’s office to build its own version of a multistate cross-check program or to find a “private sector provider” with a cost that won’t exceed $100,000.
As of Thursday, it’s unclear whether the state has found an alternative or created its own version.
This is a developing story. Check back for more details.
Natalia Contreras is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. Contact Natalia at [email protected].
Disclosure: Texas Secretary of State has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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