Zuckerberg's cash fuels GOP suspicion and new election rules

DENVER – When Facebook laminitis Mark Zuckerberg donated $400 cardinal to assistance money predetermination offices arsenic they scrambled to woody with the coronavirus pandemic precocious past summer, helium said helium hoped helium would ne'er person to bash it again.

Republican legislatures are granting him that wish.

At slightest 8 GOP-controlled states person passed bans connected donations to predetermination offices this twelvemonth arsenic Republicans effort to artifact extracurricular backing of voting operations. The authorities often comes arsenic portion of Republican packages that besides enactment caller limits connected however voters tin formed ballots and enforce caller requirements connected region oregon city-based predetermination officials.

The effect is spurred by choler and suspicion connected the close that Zuckerberg's wealth benefited Democrats successful 2020. Conservatives person agelong accused the tech mogul's societal media level of censoring right-wing voices arsenic portion of its run against misinformation.

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Zuckerberg's wealth was mostly distributed done a nonpartisan instauration that had wide roots. Conservative groups mention analyses that the wealth went disproportionately to Democratic-leaning counties successful cardinal states specified arsenic Florida and Pennsylvania.

“People saw that, and looked around, and they were progressively acrophobic astir wherefore would you person a billionaire backing our elections done the backdoor,” said Jessica Anderson, enforcement manager of the blimpish radical Heritage Action, which has pushed the bans successful respective states.

But galore predetermination officials accidental that effort is short-sighted and fueled by paranoia. Election offices, they argue, are chronically underfunded and present cannot payment from donations that inactive travel to truthful galore different branches of government, including police, schools and libraries.

Furthermore, they accidental determination is nary motion of favoritism successful the organisation of the grants from Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Elections are much costly successful populous municipality areas, and particularly much truthful past year, erstwhile states scrambled to displacement to message voting to woody with the pandemic. Metro areas had to bargain costly instrumentality to unfastened and benignant message ballots, a task that smaller, much GOP-leaning counties could bash by manus oregon with little gear.

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Also, Republican-leaning areas were already discouraged from accepting predetermination grants owed to blimpish suspicion of Zuckerberg. The Republican lawyer wide of Louisiana past twelvemonth ordered his state's predetermination offices to crook down grants from the nonprofit, the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which distributed $350 cardinal of the Zuckerberg money.

“Every predetermination section that applied, received funding," said CTCL's enforcement director, Tiana Epps-Johnson, adding that the organisation of the wealth "reflects those who chose to apply.”

A spokesperson for Zuckerberg declined to code the question of caller legislation.

“When our nation’s predetermination infrastructure faced unprecedented challenges past twelvemonth owed to the pandemic, Mark and Priscilla stepped up to adjacent a backing spread and granted $350 cardinal to the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonpartisan, 501 (c)(3) organization,” said Ben LaBolt. “Mark made wide this was a unsocial effort to code the unprecedented situation of the pandemic and his penchant for elections to beryllium publically funded."

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The halfway distributed grants to 2,500 predetermination offices nationwide, from Alaska to Florida. The wealth was spent successful a wide assortment of ways — protective cogwheel for canvass workers, nationalist acquisition campaigns promoting caller methods to ballot during the pandemic, and caller trucks to haul voting equipment.

In bluish Arizona, sprawling Coconino County utilized its $614,000 assistance to prosecute much predetermination workers, peculiarly Navajo speakers who could bash outreach connected a reservation, and acceptable up drive-up sites for voters to driblet disconnected ballots, said region recorder Patty Hansen.

She said it was the archetypal clip she had capable wealth to grow outreach to the full county, which is among the biggest successful onshore size successful the state astatine 18,600 quadrate miles but is sparsely populated.

“Because of the authorities passed and signed by the governor, we volition ne'er beryllium capable to get a assistance similar that ever again,” she said. “They’re cutting disconnected a backing root to beryllium capable to supply these further requirements they’re putting connected us.”

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Election officials person agelong complained they were underfunded, but ne'er much truthful than past twelvemonth erstwhile they had to instantly revamp their full operations astatine the highest of the pandemic. There was a immense displacement to message voting, portion adjacent in-person voting required caller protective measures, and hazard wage for canvass workers.

Democrats pushed for an other $2 cardinal for predetermination offices successful the archetypal coronavirus assistance measure successful April but lone got $400 million. After a outpouring and summertime of troubled primaries and partisan deadlock implicit much funding, Zuckerberg stepped in. He and Chan donated a full of $400 cardinal to predetermination offices — $350 cardinal successful the signifier of grants to section offices that were distributed done CTCL.

The enactment of CTCL raised eyebrows among immoderate conservatives due to the fact that of the group's roots. Some of its founders, including Epps-Johnson, erstwhile were astatine the New Organizing Institute, which provided information and grooming to wide activists Still, CTCL has go respected among predetermination officials and includes a Republican, Pam Anderson, erstwhile elected clerk of a suburban Denver-area county, connected its board. In an interview, she said the radical was “100% nonpartisan.”

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Other Republican predetermination officials person besides vouched for the impartiality of the program. “I don’t spot wherefore governments should beryllium barred from trying to enactment with the backstage assemblage successful securing assistance funds,” said Brian Mead, a Republican predetermination manager successful Licking County, Ohio, extracurricular Columbus, which received $77,000 from CTCL. “If we tin enactment with the backstage assemblage and unafraid funds wherever we prevention our taxpayers money, I deliberation that’s a bully thing,” Mead said.

That did not mollify conservatives, particularly aft the archetypal grants went to major, Democratic-voting cities. In Pennsylvania, 1 of the cardinal battlegrounds of the statesmanlike election, Philadelphia, with an yearly predetermination fund of $12.3 million, received $10 cardinal from CTCL. The blimpish Foundation for Government Accountability recovered that successful Pennsylvania, Democratic-voting counties received an mean of $4.99 per voter, portion Republican-voting ones got $1.12 per voter.

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In Florida, the differential was besides dramatic, with one-third of the $18 cardinal successful full wealth going to Democratic-leaning Palm Beach County, and an further $2.4 cardinal for Miami-Dade County, which backed Democrat Joe Biden, albeit much narrowly than expected. Republican Donald Trump won the state.

“If Charles Koch was doing this, well, for galore of these radical the footwear would beryllium connected the different foot,” said Hayden Dublois, a researcher astatine the Foundation for Government Accountability, referring to the blimpish billionaire.

In immoderate states, including Georgia and Texas, the caller laws necessitate each donations to section predetermination offices to beryllium distributed by the caput of state. In states specified arsenic Arizona, Kansas and Iowa, they are banned altogether.

Anderson, the Republican CTCL committee member, said that volition bash existent damage.

“If you privation to artifact this funding, past I privation to inquire if the legislators are backing elections?” Anderson said. “Because truthful galore states don't.”

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Associated Press writers Felicia Fonseca successful Flagstaff, Arizona, and Julie Carr Smyth successful Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.