How the far right tore apart one of the best tools to fight voter fraud

The Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, has for years operated as a bipartisan success story in election administration. But since early 2022, the far right has targeted ERIC, fracturing a partnership that had 32 member states at its height. Eight states where Republicans oversee voting have so far pulled out. (Glenn Harvey for NPR)

On a night in January 2022, Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin stepped on stage in a former airbase in Houma, La.

With American flags draped from the stage, the topic of the night was democracy.

The state’s chief voting official joked that he was competing with a former LSU Tiger great playing in the NFL playoffs the same night.