Miles Parks for NPR:

If Republicans over the past few years have made one thing clear, it’s that they really care about voter fraud.

Sometimes they call it “election irregularities” or “shenanigans,” but the issue has become a calling card for a party whose voters by and large falsely think elections in the U.S. are tainted.

Which is what makes a currently blossoming election conspiracy so strange: The far right is now running a disinformation campaign against one of the best tools that states have to detect and prevent voter fraud.

And experts worry voting policy is already starting to suffer as a result.

The tool is a shared database called the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC for short. It allows states to securely share voter registration data across state lines and with a number of other government agencies, like the Social Security Administration and departments of motor vehicles.

That data-sharing allows participating states to expand ballot access by giving officials information that helps them reach out to eligible voters who have moved into the jurisdiction but have not yet registered to vote. But it also increases election security by notifying those same officials when a registered voter moves away or dies, allowing states to maintain more accurate voter rolls.