🚨BREAKING:🚨@_CitizenAG has filed a federal lawsuit after discovering Wisconsin's DOT gave 2 nonprofits DMV data containing the personal info of millions of Americans AND non-citizens for targeted voter registration & outreach efforts
Here's what you need to know👇 - THREAD
The lawsuit centers around David J. Becker and his 2 nonprofits, the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) & the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), and Wisconsin's DOT
The scheme to access DMV records begins when a State signs this document:
– the ERIC Membership Agreement
Under the membership agreement, the State agrees to use tax-payer money to:
(1) pay $25,000 for an initiation fee; and
(2) pay tens of thousands more in annual "dues"
AND the State also agrees to send ERIC "resident" data (e.g., NOT "citizen" data) every 60 days––
...and that's because ERIC actually PROHIBITS the State from including ANY info about citizenship when it sends ERIC names for use in its voter roll "clean up" efforts
One of the reasons ERIC claims to exist is to "increase voter roll accuracy"... which is hard to do when you can't tell who is, or is not, a citizen
But ERIC isn't focused on voter roll accuracy––as shown below, ERIC States remove LESS ineligible voters from the rolls than do non-ERIC States (who aren't much better)
Contrary to its tax-exempt purpose, ERIC's apparent mission is to bloat voter rolls––something admittedly, ERIC is quite good at
From 2013-2020, here's ERIC's activity:
- Blue: voters ERIC adds to rolls
- Green/Orange: voters ERIC has helped remove
Problematic here, is that Wisconsin hasn't been an ERIC member since 2016...
On May 17, 2016, ERIC's membership agreement was entered into by Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board (GAB)––which was eliminated 44 days later
On June 30, 2016, the Wisconsin legislature eliminated the GAB with the enactment of 2015 Assembly Bill 388, thereby terminating the State's membership in ERIC
electionacademy.lib.umn.edu/2015/11/18/for…
The Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) confirmed the State isn't an ERIC member just weeks ago
On September 17, WEC's written discovery responses reveal "WEC has not entered into contracts with ANY third-party to maintain the database."
CEIR's involvement in the case comes from what Becker & ERIC do with WisDOT's DMV data once they obtain it
Keep in mind, Becker founded both ERIC & CEIR––
In 2011 & while Becker was still working at the Pew, $750,000 in grants came in to "support the Pew Center on the States' voter registration modernization initiative"
Here's the link, go to doc pg. 143: projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/dis…
At it's core, the Complaint alleges that ERIC birddogs the DMV data, and Becker's other nonprofit, the CEIR uses the data for an array of activities (explained below)
....all of which are prohibited under the DPPA
–– P.S. if CEIR sounds familiar, it may be because you heard about it as the recipient of $70,000,000.00 in "Zucker Bucks" leading up to the 2020 election
With DMV data & Zucker Bucks in hand, CEIR issued grants to an array of States leading up to the 2020 election
The amounts per State are shown below:
Most notable is the grant CEIR issued to Michigan for nearly $12 million that went to the Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration (MCELA)
According to CEIR, those funds were for "urgent voter educational assistance", but MCELA has a different story
According to the MCELA 2020 tax filings, 99% of those funds were given to partisan political consulting firms:
- Waterfront Strategies: $9.7 million
- Alper Strategies: $2 million
Notably, Alper Strategies was founded by former DNC political director, Jill Alper
...and the MCELA? The organization was founded in 2008 by Michigan's Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson
Here's a link: citizenag.link/pz6
As to bloating the voter rolls, Colorado's Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Beall, testified that 30,000 non-citizens in Colorado were sent postcards
...because of ERIC
Link to whole transcript: scribd.com/document/78602…
More to come, but this covers the high-level of what is going on in Wisconsin & 23 other states.
Our mission is to protect the constitutional rights & civil liberties of ALL Americans, and that includes protecting the fundamental right to vote.
Learn more at
CitizenAG.org
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.