evidence: Ohio’s departure from the nonprofit group, Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, marks the fourth state to resign from the organization this month. In all, six states run by Republicans have withdrawn from the organization in the last year. [...] Critics, such as the conservative legal activist group Judicial Watch, have cast ERIC as "swelling" voter registration rolls because member states must send out information encouraging eligible residents to register to vote. And they have sought to link the organization to billionaire financier George Soros, a frequent target of right-wing groups. [...] Laleh Ispahani, an official with Soros’ Open Society Foundations, said in a statement to CNN that the Soros groups have "never funded" ERIC. She said the Foundations gave $1.2 million to support work by Pew’s former Center on States division from 2009 to 2011, which researched modernizing voter registration and information systems.