Florida joins multi-state voter verification system, Gov. Ron DeSantis announces

Jeffrey Schweers | Tallahassee Democrat

Show Caption Hide Caption Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee on election security Gov. Ron DeSantis and Lee announced a partnership between their offices and the 67 county supervisors of elections to examine election security.

Florida has been accepted to the Electronic Registration Information Center, a multi-state network created by the PEW Charitable Trusts to improve the accuracy of voter registration systems.

Gov. Ron DeSantis' office announced the news Tuesday, as part of the state's ongoing efforts to root out election security and fraud problems prior to the upcoming 2020 elections.

In August, the state had asked to join the multi-state network, which uses “a sophisticated and secure data-matching tool” to compare official data on eligible voters to keep voter rolls up to date.

Databases include voter and motor vehicle registrations, U.S. Postal Service addresses and Social Security death records.

“My administration is committed to protecting the integrity of Florida’s voter rolls and preventing election fraud,” DeSantis said in a statement.

“As a member of ERIC, Florida is now equipped with more tools to further ensure accurate voter rolls, make voting easier and reduce costs to taxpayers.”

DeSantis included the necessary funding to join ERIC in his 2020-21 budget recommendation to the Legislature. It includes annual dues estimated at $75,000 and $1.3 million to conduct a direct mail outreach program to unregistered voters.

Joining ERIC is among other steps to improve voter security around the upcoming 2020 elections that DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel Lee — the state's chief elections officer — have touted.

Earlier this year, DeSantis reauthorized $2.3 million that wasn’t spent last year on security grants to county supervisors of elections. That amount is in addition to the $2.8 million the Legislature appropriated this year, for a total of $5.1 million for election security.

That's on top of $15 million in other state and federal grants received since the 2016 elections.

The state has also created a Joint Election Security Initiative to help counties shore up their voting systems.

State officials learned from an FBI briefing that at least two Florida counties had their election systems hacked in 2016. They have not said which counties were breached, but have repeatedly said the intrusions didn't affect the votes cast or the outcome of the election.

After receiving that FBI briefing, DeSantis directed Lee to conduct a review of election system security throughout all 67 counties in Florida to ensure the state's election infrastructure is secure. That review has been completed, Lee said, but she wouldn't disclose the results.

"That would weaken our security posture," she told reporters at a news conference a month ago. "That is the type of information our adversaries could in fact use to attack our infrastructure.”

Florida is the 29th state to join the network, which also includes Washington D.C. The state's full participation in ERIC prior to the 2020 elections will be contingent upon receiving funding from the Legislature, DeSantis said.

Joining ERIC has been widely hailed by Republicans and Democrats alike, as well as by voting rights organizations and civic groups.

“It’s good for Florida, which is highly transient,” said Patricia Brigham, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. "We have a lot of people move into the state and this will help keep voter rolls accurate.”

Contact Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.