The nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) now promises it will refrain from funding midterm elections in the fall. However, CTCL also announced on Monday its “nonpartisan collaborative” to “help local election departments improve operations, develop a set of shared standards and values, and obtain access to best-in-class resources to run successful elections.”
CTCL benefitted from approximately $350 million in donations from the Chan-Zuckerberg Foundation, helping the 2020 Biden win in critical cities across the nation. Much of the money was sent to democrat strongholds in swing states, distributed in the form of grants. In the end, however, hundreds of county and city elections officials in 47 states and the District of Columbia received grants, according to The Capital Research Center.
Executive Director Tiana Epps-Johnson touted the Center’s newest initiative called the “U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence” on her Twitter feed on Monday. It is “a five-year, $80m nonpartisan program that’s open to every election department in the nation.”
CTCL Floods States with Election Funding
Private funding played a huge role in the 2020 election. Many believe that the funding— much of it provided by Zuckerberg—tipped the election unfairly in favor of Biden and the Democrats. While CTCL’s 2020 income tax return form indicates that it is a 501(c)(3) and did not participate in lobbying efforts, one could argue that the grants effectively manipulated elections because of the inequities in how and where the funds were used.
With many of the grants going to Democrat strongholds, the funds went to multiple initiatives, many of which would have had to be initiated by state legislatures in any other election. The pandemic was used as cover to justify the installation of drop boxes, mass mail-in ballots, and changes in all manner of election rules and laws, to name just a few. Influence Watch, the brainchild of Capital Research Center, examined CTCL’s role in the election and found numerous areas where the grants were utilized.
https://uncoverdc.com/2022/04/12/ctcl-announces-80-million-program-to-run-elections/