FIRST ON FOX: A Georgia election committee may have broken state law by accepting $2 million from a group linked to Mark Zuckerberg, a monitoring group claimed in a letter seen by Fox News Digital.
The Honest Elections Project is calling for an investigation by the DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections into a “blatant and egregious” violation of a state ban on private funding imposed after allegations donors used money to promote leftist influence before the election 2020
The funding in question came from the US Alliance for Election Excellence, the project said in a letter last week calling for an investigation by the attorney general, secretary of state and state election commission.
“We’re fairly convinced now that this is an attempt to do two things,” Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, told Fox News Digital. “To get around these bans on private funding, either by doing what they did in DeKalb County, looking for loopholes and finals, doing whatever it takes to get money into those offices, or by doing what they mean.” In my opinion, just find more important work, which is pumping influence into these offices.”
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The letter details how the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) received a $250 million donation from Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan for programs to provide grants to local election officials across the country in the run-up to the 2020 election . This funding was made with the stated aim of helping jurisdictions deal with the coronavirus pandemic by providing, among other things, ballot boxes, voting equipment, additional manpower, protective equipment for poll workers and public awareness campaigns on new voting methods.
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“This massive influx of funds — which ultimately surpassed $400 million — was met with fierce criticism, fueled by post-election analysis that found the money was channeled overwhelmingly to pro-democracy jurisdictions,” the letter reads . “Criticism that CTCL does not deny.”
The story goes on
Georgia was one of dozens of states trying to ban outside groups from funneling money to electoral boards and potentially having influence. Part of Georgia’s 2021 reform law “prohibited polling stations from receiving funding from outside groups.”
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“No superintendent may accept or accept any funding, grant or gift from any source other than the county or municipal government agency, the state of Georgia or the federal government,” the law states.
A spokesman for Zuckerberg said in 2022 that the Facebook founder had no plans to inject money into future elections — and called the grant a “one-off donation given the unprecedented nature of the crisis.”
“During the 2020 election, Mark and Priscilla made a one-time donation to help meet the unprecedented challenge of ensuring Americans can vote safely at the height of the pandemic,” Brian Baker, spokesman for Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, told Fox News digital this week. “They have made no additional donations and have no plans to do so, including additional donations to the Center for Tech and Civic Life.”
However, the Honest Elections Project released a report earlier this year that described the US Alliance for Election Excellence, the CTCL coalition that channeled the money to DeKalb County, as “merely a continuation” of CTCL’s so-called “Zuck Bucks program.” Critics use this term to describe the private financing of elections by left-wing donors in 2020.
“They’re trying to gather data and redesign the way these bureaus work to essentially become left-wing outposts for progressive electoral reform,” Snead told Fox News Digital. “Everything they do is a ploy to get into these offices and achieve that goal.”
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DeKalb County officials and supporters of the funding argue that the money was accepted by the county government and not the election committee.
When criticized earlier this month by the group of former Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, Greater Georgia, a state election official responded that “partisan allegations do not reflect an accurate interpretation of state law and undermine the work of already overworked, underpaid civil servants.” “
“The DeKalb County Treasury Department applied for the grant in accordance with state law, and our prosecutors conducted a thorough review to ensure the grant award was consistent with the letter of the statute,” said Dele Lowman Smith, chair of the DeKalb Elections Committee , a Democrat Constitution of the Atlanta Journal.
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Lowman Smith did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on the Honest Elections Project’s writing.
A complaint was filed earlier this month by the nonprofit group Restoring Election Integrity and Trust, which said the county “used a scheme to circumvent state laws.”
“What the Georgia legislature did in passing the legislation we are discussing was clearly an attempt to prevent counties from dealing with private election funders, and here we have one that clearly did so ‘ Snead said.
The DeKalb County Finance Office applied to join the US electoral alliance “early last year,” Snead said. This showed that the county had “already figured out before the coalition was online” that they already knew how to “circumvent the law” if there were a way to continue receiving funds from progressive groups.
“We think we need research for that,” Snead said.
“As the Election Committee has recognized, ‘fair, legal and orderly elections’ are the touchstone of America’s democratic process,” concludes the Honest Elections Project letter. “Those responsible for administering the elections should zealously uphold these principles. That’s what makes DeKalb County’s brazen disregard for Georgia’s electoral laws so troubling.
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Kelly Loeffler
“The Board of Elections has a duty to investigate and correct these actions and to demonstrate its commitment to maintaining ‘the highest standards of integrity’ in ‘all matters related to the electoral process.'”
The Georgia Attorney General’s Office told Fox News Digital that it does not have the authority to investigate alleged violations of Georgia’s electoral law and that the Georgia Secretary of State or the Georgia Bureau of Investigations will handle these matters.
Earlier this week, a bill, SB 222, was introduced in the Georgia General Assembly that aims to close any loopholes that could exploit loopholes in Georgia’s law.
“What is happening in Georgia right now is crystal clear: ideological groups and certain districts are testing our resolve to enforce state law while trying to influence local elections,” Loeffler said in a statement.
“Fortunately, Lt. Governor Burt Jones and our legislators quickly took action to strengthen existing laws prohibiting outside funding for local election boards through SB 202, ensuring our elections are never bought and paid for by special or partisan interests. “, the statement said.
“Greater Georgia is proud to support the law and calls for its urgent adoption by members of the Georgia General Assembly.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement to Fox News Digital that he had asked lawmakers to close the loophole and suggested that SB 202 would do just that.
“It was the will of the General Assembly that if external organizations wanted to help with the provision of funds for districts, this would actually be routed through the state election committee so that it could then pay out the funds fairly,” said Raffensperger. “It would be a legislative tool. We’re in session now, so they can deal with that pretty quickly.”
A spokesman for Raffensperger’s office told Fox News Digital Thursday afternoon that there was “an active investigation at the direction of the state electoral commission.”
The Georgia State Election Board also confirmed that an investigator had been assigned to two separate complaints, but could not comment further as the investigation is pending.
