Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) sounded the alarm on Wednesday after the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) rolled out a new effort last week offering millions of dollars to counties in 20 states to “improve access to voting for rural voters,” among other goals. CTCL was at the center of the “Zuckerbucks” controversy in 2020 after Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg and his wife dumped more than $300 million into the non-profit.
Multiple states took action to prevent private funding of election administration after “Zuckerbucks” were dumped into swing states such as Georgia and Wisconsin during the 2020 campaign, money that Republicans allege helped Joe Biden. Last Friday, CTCL founder and Executive Director Tiana Epps-Johnson released a statement announcing $2.5 million of grant funding being made available for 20 states, Just The News reported.
“Unfortunately, local election departments remain severely underfunded after Congress cut Help America Vote Act funding last year to just $55 million nationwide, which means most rural election offices don’t get regular funding from the federal government,” Epps-Johnson said, adding, “This program will help eligible rural and nonmetro election offices modernize outdated voting technology, improve access to voting for rural voters, seniors, and veterans, and make much-needed infrastructure updates to enhance election security and make voting smoother for everyone.”
CTCL said the Zuckerbergs did not fund this year’s grant.
The grant applications are open in Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming. The funds are to be used between July 31 and December 31 for election administration.
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Rep. Tenney posted on X on Wednesday, “Zuckerbucks is back & is targeting rural communities across our country this election, using partisan funding from big tech billionaires to exploit our election administration & process. We must pass my End Zuckerbucks Act & end this malign influencing of our elections.”
In 2021, a House Republican investigation found that much of the CTCL’s election grants went toward voter registration efforts in “overwhelmingly Democrat-leaning precincts.” House Republicans, led by Tenney, sent a letter to Epps-Johnson requesting that CTCL “release its full financial data.”
In 2022, then-Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf signed a ban on private money funding election administration, and last year, Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a similar bill. Wisconsin voters followed suit earlier this year by approving two election-related amendments to the state constitution.
