Subcommittee approves amendment to let Secretary of State enter interstate voter-list compacts after debate over ERIC membership

The subcommittee considered House Bill 215, which would regulate how the state participates in multi‑state voter‑list maintenance organizations and restrict sharing of certain voter registration data with non‑governmental entities. The measure drew extended testimony from the Secretary of State’s office, voting‑access groups and critics who raised privacy and data‑security concerns.

Representative Montahan, the sponsor, described the bill as intended to require that voter‑list maintenance be handled through state‑based solutions rather than by third‑party organizations when those organizations are no longer broadly effective. He said the state previously joined ERIC (the Electronic Registration Information Center) under a 2019 statute and conducted list maintenance through ERIC beginning in 2021, but that several member states have left ERIC in recent years and the network’s usefulness is diminishing. The sponsor said the draft would require termination of participation in prohibited organizations within 90 days of the bill’s effective date and would limit sharing of confidential voter registration data with non‑governmental entities while preserving government‑to‑government exchanges.

Blake Evans and Zach LaRoche spoke for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and described Georgia’s use of ERIC and other tools. Evans said ERIC allows a rapid cross‑state comparison of voter and driver records and listed operational benefits: ERIC provided about 71.78 percent of the state’s list‑maintenance mailer matches in recent cycles, the office has used ERIC to help refer cases of potential illegal voting to law enforcement (74 cases identified in 2020 and 2022), and the state’s ERIC dues for the most recent year were $97,969. He said ERIC membership reduces staff time compared with negotiating many bilaterial exchanges.

Witnesses opposing the bill included Marissa Pyle of All Voting Is Local Action, Rachel Lastinger of ACLU of Georgia, and attorney Don Hackney; they urged the subcommittee not to withdraw Georgia from ERIC, warning that doing so would reduce the state’s ability to receive timely cross‑state updates and could force Georgia to negotiate piecemeal data exchanges that are less efficient and more costly. Colin Fabredo (Voter GA) argued the opposite, saying ERIC retains personally identifying information (PII) and citing federal and state privacy statutes as a legal concern.

Representative Fleming offered amendment AM470134 on the floor, which the committee adopted: the amendment authorizes the Secretary of State to enter into interstate voter‑list maintenance compacts and to share motor‑vehicle identification information with other states for the purpose of those compacts, and it allows the Secretary to withdraw from such compacts at his discretion. After debate and adoption of the amendment, the subcommittee voted to report the bill favorably as amended.

The record shows split views on whether ERIC—or an alternative state‑based approach—best preserves both list accuracy and voter privacy. The Secretary of State’s office emphasized ERIC’s operational advantages; civil‑liberties and voter‑access groups urged caution about restricting cross‑state cooperation in list maintenance.