Of the $36.4 million spent in Texas by the Mark Zuckerberg-backed nonprofit , approximately $25 million went to Dallas and Harris counties. | Unsplash
Of the $36.4 million spent in Texas by the Mark Zuckerberg-backed nonprofit , approximately $25 million went to Dallas and Harris counties. | Unsplash
During the 2020 election, Maverick County received $47,075 from the Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL), a portion of the approximately $36.4 million that the Mark Zuckerberg-backed nonprofit gave to Texas counties in the form of grants used to fund things such as drive-through voting.
A criticism of the grants awarded by CTCL is that the outside funding effectively could have swayed elections by favoring counties where mostly Democratic-affiliated voters live. A white paper from the Public Interest Legal Foundation states that in the traditionally Republican stronghold of Tarrant County, which received $1.6 million, the county flipped from Republican to Democratic, in part, to how those funds were used.
“The Tarrant County election administrator’s budget for the 2020 election was originally $8,089,517,” the white paper states. “CTCL juiced that budget by almost 21%. Joe Biden also flipped Austin metro area Hays and Williamson counties with raw vote improvements between 70 and 80%.”
The largest of approximately $15.1 million in CTCL funding went to Dallas County, with another $9.6 million to Harris County, which covers all of Houston.
The response from the Texas Legislature has been seen in the form of House Bill 2283, introduced by state Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford). It will prohibit any election commissions or county election boards from accepting any contributions offered by private parties, including corporations, trusts or private individuals.
“Private parties cannot be allowed to pay for preferred modes of elections in Texas or anywhere else,” J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, was quoted as saying in their white paper. “Election administration is the most fundamental function of local and state government and must be funded accordingly, full stop.”
Studies by the Capital Research Center (CRC) looking at the influence of the $350 million that Zuckerberg distributed through CTCL found that in Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania the money went overwhelmingly to boost elections in predominantly Democratic-controlled counties, according to coverage by Legal Newsline. In Philadelphia the grant specifically required that the funds be used to pay for mail-in ballots and increased numbers of drop boxes around the city.
“This matters because drop boxes sidestep basic voting integrity requirements, allowing anyone – without any identification – to drop any number of ballots into a private collection bin with no official oversight and no accountability after the fact,” Hayden Ludwig, senior investigative researcher at CRC, was quoted as saying by Legal Newsline. “If a fraudster wanted to flood Philadelphia with phony ballots, CTCL’s ZuckBucks enabled him to bypass USPS mailboxes."
While HB 2283 is before the Texas House of Representatives, Senate Bill 7 – which includes similar measures – has already passed the Senate.
Yet, on the federal level, there is also legislation pushing the other direction, according to coverage by Prairie State Wire. The For the People Act, which would loosen restrictions on elements such as voter ID requirements and mail-in ballots for all federal elections, has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is currently before the U.S. Senate.
Illinois-based Restoration Action opposes the measure. Founder Doug Truax said in a release that the bill "strips away critical safeguards necessary to ensure our elections are free, fair and transparent.”
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