Zuckerbucks Archives - The Wisconsin Daily Star

States, Counties Clash over ‘Zuckerbucks’-Like New Sources of Private Election Funding

March 27, 2023March 26, 2023 Just the News

As “Zuckerbucks” — the injection of private money into public election administration — make a comeback, states and municipalities are clashing over whether the funds should be accepted or banned.

While many states and counties across the country have either restricted or banned the use of private money to fund public elections offices, a nonprofit with progressive Democrat ties that served as the key link in the 2020 Zuckerbucks funding chain is still finding loopholes in some counties as states seek to tighten up their laws.

Congress, States Are Trying to Rein in Election-Funding ‘Zuckerbucks’ 2.0

March 19, 2023 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

As the Georgia General Assembly advances a bill to further restrict private money from bankrolling elections—as occurred with Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s grants in the 2020 elections—congressional Republicans are reintroducing a similar measure.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a measure on March 8 to strengthen an existing ban on private dollars funding election administration in his state.

Wisconsin Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Check Big Government Bugging

March 17, 2023March 16, 2023 M.D. Kittle

In the wake of Green Bay’s city hall bugging scandal, two Green Bay-area lawmakers are introducing a bill creating clear requirements for government officials to collect audio recordings.

The measure, authored by State Representative David Steffen (R-Howard) and State Senator Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay), would establish “stringent requirements” should local or state government officials feel the need to audio record in public buildings.

Commentary: Leftist Groups Tapping $1 Billion to Vastly Expand the Private Financing of Public Elections

March 15, 2023 RealClearWire

Democrats and their progressive allies are vastly expanding their unprecedented efforts, begun in 2020, to use private money to influence and run public elections.

Supported by groups with more than $1 billion at their disposal, according to public records, these partisan groups are working with state and local boards to influence functions that have long been the domain of government or political parties.

Social Media Mogul Zuckerberg Funds Recruitment of Progressives to Administer Elections

February 27, 2023 Just the News

The injection of private money into public election administration — or “Zuckerbucks” — is continuing in a new form, as left-leaning candidates are being recruited to run for local elections offices by an organization that receives funds from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Red Flags Rise over UW-Madison Get-Out-the-Vote Initiative with ‘Zuckerbucks’ Feel

February 10, 2023February 9, 2023 M.D. Kittle

The BadgersVote initiative “strives to provide University of Wisconsin–Madison students with everything they need to know in order to participate in their elections,” according to organizers. But is the campus-wide “public service” campaign really just a Democratic Party Get-Out-the-Vote effort underwritten by a taxpayer-funded university, a nonprofit research center, and liberal activist groups?

For some, the university-nonprofit partnership feels a lot like the Zuckerbucks scandal of 2020.

Star News Exclusive: Records Show Green Bay City Officials Installed Secret Recording Devices, Council Member Wants Resignations

February 7, 2023 M.D. Kittle

Records obtained by The Star News Network show Green Bay city officials installed at least three audio recording devices in City Hall — without notifying the City Council or the public. Alderman Chris Wery, who represents Green Bay’s 8th District, described the secret recordings as the kind of “Big Brother stuff” found in a George Orwell novel.

Alliance of Big Tech, Dark Money Groups Partners with Counties in State That Bans ‘Zuckerbucks’ for Elections

January 29, 2023January 28, 2023 Admin

The group that distributed most of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s controversial election grants in 2020 has designated at least two Utah counties as part of a new effort, despite a state ban on private money funding election operations. The two local juridictions are Cache County, with a population of 137,00, and Weber County, population 267,000.

Zuckerbucks-Backed Group Back in Wisconsin

December 15, 2022December 15, 2022 M.D. Kittle

The liberal voting activist group that dumped $350 million of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s money on local election offices during the 2020 presidential election is back again with another $80 million to give over the next five years.

And Wisconsin once again will be front and center in the Center for Tech and Civic Life’s “generosity.”

Texas AG Paxton Investigating Zuckerberg-Funded Nonprofit for Alleged Partisan Electioneering Efforts in 2020

November 15, 2022November 14, 2022 The Center Square

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a Civil Investigative Demand to the Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) as part of an investigation his office launched to determine whether it “solicited donations under the pretext of protecting voters from Covid-19 while instead using the funds to support partisan electioneering efforts or election oversight roles normally left to state and local officials.”

CTCL, a self-described non-partisan nonprofit organization, according to the bios posted on its own website and other records, “is led by individuals with distinctly partisan backgrounds,” the AG’s office says. CTCL’s founder and executive director, for example, Tiana Epps-Johnson, was among a group of inaugural Obama Foundation Fellows who previously was the Election Administration director for a progressive grassroots organization, the New Organizing Institute. She also worked on the Voting Rights Project for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

Obama’s ‘Democracy Forum’ Promotes Director of ‘Zuckerbucks’ Organization That Poured Millions into 2020 Election

October 13, 2022October 12, 2022 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

Former President Barack Obama’s foundation is set to host a forum in November on dangers to democratic institutions that promotes the executive director of a non-profit that spent millions in “Zuckerbucks” funding election offices in the 2020 election.

Obama on Monday announced the Obama Foundation would host the “Democracy Forum,” an event focused on safeguarding democracy from various challenges set to include “pro-democracy thinkers, leaders, and activists,” in November. The forum, held in partnership with Columbia University and the University of Chicago, names as a “leader” Tiana Epps-Johnson, founder and executive director of the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), which distributed nearly $350 million in grants to election offices in the 2020 election thanks in large part to donations from an initiative backed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Biden, Soros Spearhead Efforts Against Election Integrity Ahead of Midterms

August 4, 2022August 3, 2022 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

While federal agencies under the Biden administration are seeking to increase voter registration and turnout, a group linked to left-wing megadonor George Soros is pushing for a constitutional amendment in the battleground state of Michigan that would allow Zuckerbucks to be used in election administration.

Dane County Judge: Zuckerbucks Not Specifically Banned Under Wisconsin Law

June 3, 2022June 2, 2022 The Center Square

There is nothing in Wisconsin law that says local election managers can’t accept money from outside groups to help run their elections.

There is nothing in state law that says they can, but a judge in Madison on Wednesday essentially said that doesn’t matter.

U.S. Election Assistance Commission Identifies Pierce County, Washington, for Best Practices in Chain of Custody for Vote-by-Mail Ballots Deposited in Drop Boxes

May 9, 2022May 8, 2022 Laura Baigert

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) recognized Pierce County, Washington for its practices related to the chain of custody that helps track pick-up and chain of custody of vote-by-mail election ballots deposited in drop boxes.

Pierce County was an EAC “Clearie” Award winner in 2021 for outstanding innovations in elections for large jurisdictions. Having over 550,000 registered voters, Pierce County is Washington state’s second largest jurisdiction.

Commentary: If Elections Are to Be Trusted, They Must Be Trustworthy

May 3, 2022May 2, 2022 RealClearWire

The way we cast our ballots matters. Some methods are not secure. Some methods are overly complicated. Some methods are not transparent. Any of these shortcomings is enough to undermine public confidence in the outcomes of our elections – and thus undermine our democracy itself.

Voting by mail suffers from every one of those shortcomings. In 2020, the avalanche of nonprofit monies used to turn urban election offices into partisan turnout centers identified and exacerbated these flaws and the impact of legal violations.

Bossie Releases ‘Zuckerbucks’ Film, as Over 40k Shown to Have Bypassed Wisconsin Voter ID Rules in 2020

April 6, 2022April 6, 2022 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

With pro-Trump activist and political filmmaker David Bossie premiering a new documentary on Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago about the influence of “Zuckerbucks” in swaying the 2020 election in battleground states like Wisconsin, an election integrity watchdog group has documented that more than 40,000 absentee ballots in that state were cast in 2020 without providing ID by voters self-identifying as “indefinitely confined.”

In “Rigged: The Zuckerberg Funded Plot to Defeat Donald Trump,” Bossie, president of conservative nonprofit Citizens United, explores how Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg injected nearly $400 million into the 2020 presidential election through two left-leaning voter turnout nonprofits — the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) and the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) — “with most of the funds funneled to government elections offices in critically important jurisdictions for Joe Biden — to finance get-out-the-vote efforts aimed at defeating” Trump, according press materials for the film.

Commentary: Wisconsin’s Zuckerbucks Report Is a Call to Action on Election Integrity

March 31, 2022 RealClearWire

In 2020, under the guise of providing funds to help election officials overcome the challenges of COVID-19, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative funneled more than $10 million into Wisconsin, with $8.5 million strategically targeting just five cities. While this money was originally marketed as funds to be used for purchasing personal protective equipment, these funds — coined “Zuckerbucks” — were primarily used to drive procedural changes and get-out-the-vote efforts that benefited the Left.

Facebook-Linked Grants Backed Democrats in Pennsylvania in 2020

October 27, 2021December 8, 2021 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

A new report reveals that multiple private grants tied to the Big Tech giant Facebook overwhelmingly backed Democratic candidates and counties in the state of Pennsylvania in 2020, as reported by the New York Post.

The report by the publication Broad + Liberty (BL) reveals that one such grant, the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), spent more money on turning out registered voters in Democrat-majority counties than Republican-majority counties. In addition to the increased push for voter turnout, these counties were given a jumpstart on this grant and information on how to apply by state officials.