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Person

John Lindback

Nationality:

American
Occupation:

Co-founder, Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC)

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John Lindback is a co-founder and former executive director 1 of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) voter-registration monitoring system. 2 He has since become a national elections expert with the left-of-center Center for Secure and Modern Elections. 3

Lindback has expressed the view that U.S. elections “would be in a world of hurt without rich people,” 4 supports giving felons the vote, 5 is an advocate for automatic registration, 6 supports statewide mail voting, 7 and has said that there is a “bigger role for the federal government to play in elections” across the United States. 8 He has worked for Democratic politicians, most notably former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury (D).

Career

John Lindback is a co-founder and former 9 of the state-run Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) voter monitoring system. 10 He was previously a national elections expert with the left-of-center Center for Secure and Modern Elections. 11

From 2014 until his retirement from the organization in 2017, 12 Lindback was the executive director of ERIC. As of ERIC’s most recent filing with the Internal Revenue Service in 2020, Lindback remains on ERIC’s board of directors. 13

From 2009 until 2014, Lindback was in charge of upgrading voter registration at the Pew Charitable Trust’s Pew Center for the States. 14 While at Pew, Lindback was a member of the working group that created ERIC. 15 16

Prior to joining Pew, Lindback worked in various roles in the Oregon and Alaska state governments. From 2001 until 2009, Lindback was the director of elections in the office of Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury (D). In 2008, he was elected as president of the National Association of State Election Directors. 17 During this time, Lindback was also elected to the executive board of the United States Elections Assistance Commission’s national Standards Advisory Board and an advisor to Design for Democracy. 18

From 1995 until 2001, Lindback was the chief of staff to Alaska Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer (D). In this role he oversaw Alaska’s transition from punch-card to optical-scan voting. He was also a liaison with the National Association of Secretaries of State and worked as an aide in the Alaska state legislature and Alaska office of management and budget. 19

Previously, Lindback was a member of a National Academy of Sciences panel that studied state voter registration and a volunteer election observer for the U.S. Department of State in Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, and the Republic of Georgia. 20 He has spoken at election-related events sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center, 21 the Center for Technology and Civic Life, 22 the Center for Secure and Modern Elections, 23 and Democracy Fund. 24

Views on Elections

John Lindback is an advocate of automatic voter registration 25 and statewide mail voting. 26 He has said that there is a “bigger role for the federal government to play in elections” across the United States. 27

Lindback views Colorado elections as the “gold standard” 28 while saying that New Hampshire’s elections are “like voting in the 1800s.” 29 Lindback also believes that  U.S. elections “would be in a world of hurt without rich people” 30 and has said that voter registration fraud is “extremely rare.” 31

In 2021, he signed a letter organized by the left-of-center Brennan Center for Justice in support of the Democracy Restoration Act, which would restore felons’ voting rights in federal elections. 32

References

  1. “An Open Letter from ERIC’s Executive Director.” Electronic Registration Information Center. March 2, 2023. Accessed via Web Archive March 29, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230307002343/https://ericstates.org/an-open-letter-2023-03/.
  2. “Election Registration Information Center Slide Deck.” My Florida Elections. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.myfloridaelections.com/portals/fsase/documents/j_lindback_eric_fl_12.10.14._jwl.pdf.
  3. “NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week.” Associated Press. September 11, 2020. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/global-trade-chicago-media-social-media-election-2020-e0562c272575dba3ffe8026ccef017cc.
  4. “Sept. 28, 2022. John Lindback, “A Journey Through the Back rooms of America’s Elections.” Darien Men’s Association YouTube. September 28, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59GKLEJdm4.
  5. “Letter to Sen. Ben Cardin.” Brennan Center for Justice. April 19, 2021. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/Election%20Officials%20Letter%20-%20Final_0.pdf.
  6. “Sept. 28, 2022. John Lindback, “A Journey Through the Back rooms of America’s Elections.” Darien Men’s Association YouTube. September 28, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59GKLEJdm4.
  7. Rosch, Denise. “Bill could make mail-in voting permanent in Nevada.” News 3 Las Vegas. March 31, 2021. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://news3lv.com/news/local/bill-could-make-mail-in-voting-permanent-in-nevada.
  8. “Sept. 28, 2022. John Lindback, “A Journey Through the Back rooms of America’s Elections.” Darien Men’s Association YouTube. September 28, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59GKLEJdm4.
  9. “An Open Letter from ERIC’s Executive Director.” Electronic Registration Information Center. March 2, 2023. Accessed via Web Archive March 29, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230307002343/https://ericstates.org/an-open-letter-2023-03/.
  10. “Election Registration Information Center Slide Deck.” My Florida Elections. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.myfloridaelections.com/portals/fsase/documents/j_lindback_eric_fl_12.10.14._jwl.pdf.
  11. “NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week.” Associated Press. September 11, 2020. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/global-trade-chicago-media-social-media-election-2020-e0562c272575dba3ffe8026ccef017cc.
  12. “Declaration of John Lindback.” United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Civil No. 17*02016 (RC). October 11, 2017. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/privacy/litigation/voter/epic-v-commission/Protect-Democracy-v-Commission-motion-for-prelim-injunction-lindback-declaration-101117.pdf.
  13. “Election Registration Information Center Inc.” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). (2020). Part VII. https://ericstates.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ERIC_FY2021_IRSForm990.pdf.
  14. Mapes, Jeff. “Californian gets top elections job in Oregon.” The Oregonian. August 27, 2009. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2009/08/californian_gets_top_elections.html
  15. Mary Stegmaier and John Lindback. “Trump wants voter registration investigated. This is how 20 states are already doing it.” Washington Post. January 30, 2017. Accessed via Web Archive March 29, 2023. https://archive.ph/x7XCQ.
  16. “2017 Annual Report.” Electronic Registration Information Center. Uploaded January 2019. Accessed via Web Archive March 29, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230323002930/https://ericstates.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/FINAL_ERIC_2017_Annual_Report.pdf.
  17. “NASED Past Presidents.” National Association of State Election Directors. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.nased.org/leadership.
  18. “Declaration of John Lindback.” United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Civil No. 17*02016 (RC). October 11, 2017. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/privacy/litigation/voter/epic-v-commission/Protect-Democracy-v-Commission-motion-for-prelim-injunction-lindback-declaration-101117.pdf.
  19. “Declaration of John Lindback.” United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Civil No. 17*02016 (RC). October 11, 2017. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/privacy/litigation/voter/epic-v-commission/Protect-Democracy-v-Commission-motion-for-prelim-injunction-lindback-declaration-101117.pdf.
  20. “Sept. 28, 2022. John Lindback, “A Journey Through the Back Rooms of America’s Elections.” Darien Men’s Association. June 11, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://dariendma.org/general-meeting-sept-28/.
  21. “Presidential Commission on Election Administration: One Year Retrospective.” Bipartisan Policy Center. March 27, 2015. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/event/presidential-commission-on-election-administration-one-year-retrospective/.
  22. “CTCL Hosting a Webinar on Voter Registration Data Transfer.” Center for Tech and Civic Life. January 9 2019. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.techandciviclife.org/ctcl-hosting-a-webinar-on-voter-registration-data-transfer/.
  23. “Secure Transfer of Voter Registration Data.” Webinar hosted by the Center for Technology and Civic Life and the Center for Secure and Modern Elections. January 17, 2019. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://modernreg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Secure-Electronic-Data-Transfer-slides.pdf.
  24. “Strengthening Florida’s Elections Today.” Democracy Fund. February 20, 2015. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://democracyfund.org/idea/strengthening-floridas-elections-today/.
  25. “Sept. 28, 2022. John Lindback, “A Journey Through the Back rooms of America’s Elections.” Darien Men’s Association YouTube. September 28, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59GKLEJdm4.
  26. Rosch, Denise. “Bill could make mail-in voting permanent in Nevada.” News 3 Las Vegas. March 31, 2021. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://news3lv.com/news/local/bill-could-make-mail-in-voting-permanent-in-nevada.
  27. “Sept. 28, 2022. John Lindback, “A Journey Through the Back rooms of America’s Elections.” Darien Men’s Association YouTube. September 28, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59GKLEJdm4.
  28. “Sept. 28, 2022. John Lindback, “A Journey Through the Back rooms of America’s Elections.” Darien Men’s Association YouTube. September 28, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59GKLEJdm4.
  29. “Sept. 28, 2022. John Lindback, “A Journey Through the Back rooms of America’s Elections.” Darien Men’s Association YouTube. September 28, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59GKLEJdm4.
  30. “Sept. 28, 2022. John Lindback, “A Journey Through the Back rooms of America’s Elections.” Darien Men’s Association YouTube. September 28, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59GKLEJdm4.
  31. “NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week.” Associated Press. September 11, 2020. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/global-trade-chicago-media-social-media-election-2020-e0562c272575dba3ffe8026ccef017cc.
  32. “Letter to Sen. Ben Cardin.” Brennan Center for Justice. April 19, 2021. Accessed March 29, 2023. https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/Election%20Officials%20Letter%20-%20Final_0.pdf.
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