For nearly a decade, the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, quietly helped to clean up voter databases and catch fraud. It was a rare bipartisan success story, with Democrats praising it and Republicans calling it a "godsend."

But recently, it has become the target of a Trump-allied lawyer and the far right. NPR Voting Correspondent Miles Parks and NPR's Investigations Team trace how conspiracy theories, secret meetings, and grassroots pressure are dismantling this obscure elections tool and giving election deniers their biggest policy victory yet.