MONTGOMERY—The Alabama Senate did not vote on a bill to change the voter registration database Alabama election officials use after Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) threatened to filibuster on Tuesday.
The bill by State Sen. Wes Kitchens (R-Arab) would remove the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) as a voter registration database that the board of registrars or the Secretary of State may use to identify voters whose addresses may have changed.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen announced in September 2023 the creation of a new voter integrity database called the Alabama Voter Integrity Database (AVID). Allen withdrew Alabama from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) in January after his inauguration.
Kitchens said on the Senate floor on Tuesday, “With that ERIC system, we don’t know where those servers are.”
“We don’t know where that data is being stored. With that Alabama system, we know that it’s here in the state. We know that there are security measures put in place on it and we have that in place,” Kitchens said.
Singleton questioned the need for the change and said Alabama’s elections were already the “most secure in the nation.”
“We keep tweaking it and tweaking it because of politics. I have a problem with that. That’s what I have a problem with,” Singleton said.
Singleton continued, "I just don’t want to politicize this when people were OK with (ERIC) prior to 2020 when somebody claimed that they won and the election was taken from them."
The bill is supported by Allen and opposed by former Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill.
“From day one, my team and I have had a singular focus- fortifying Alabama elections. From withdrawing our State from ERIC to keeping noncitizens off of our voter file to banning ballot harvesting in our State, we have protected Alabama elections every step of the way. I would remind those that oppose this bill that my surprise visit to the supposed ERIC headquarters revealed that there was no office, no staff, and no equipment. It was a façade. This legislation will ensure that the Alabama taxpayers do not fall victim to anything like this again by codifying Alabama’s permanent departure from ERIC,” Allen told 1819 News on Tuesday.
Merrill told 1819 News ERIC “has never had any kind of vulnerability exposed ever.”
“There has never been a situation where any Information has been shared either intentionally or inadvertently that was the personal information of a voter,” Merrill said. “There’s never been a time when any of this has been introduced for any reason other than political purposes.”
Kitchens told 1819 News on Tuesday he thought an agreement could be eventually worked out despite the bill not receiving a vote.
“I think the biggest thing was they understood the system we do have in place right now which is the AVID system. We’ve not been using the ERIC system for a while so I believe that we should be in the position to work something out in the near future,” Kitchens said.
The bill was carried over at the call of the chair.
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