Red-state elections officials balk at voter registration outreach

Michelle Orengo-McFarlane looks for her name on a voter registration list. Credit: David Paul Morris/Getty Images

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A day after taking office in January, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen withdrew his state from the Electronic Registration Information Center, an interstate data-sharing compact aimed at helping states keep clean voter rolls.

Asked about the move a few days later by a conservative radio host, Allen, a Republican, at first talked about privacy concerns, and claimed, inaccurately, that ERIC was launched with funding from George Soros, the liberal billionaire and a familiar bogeyman on the right.

Then, Allen offered

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