byĀ Natalia MittelstadtĀ 

 

The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) is pouring new election grant funding into rural areas in 20 states, after ā€œZuckerbucksā€ in the 2020 election sparked backlash across the country.

Following the private funding of election administration during the 2020 presidential election, most states cracked down on it by enacting laws to prevent such funding in future elections. However, many states still allow it, and CTCL is focusing on granting funds to election offices in rural counties throughout the 2024 presidential election cycle.

CTCL announcedĀ its 2024 Rural and Nonmetro Election Infrastructure Grant Program on Friday, which makesĀ $2.5 millionĀ of grant funding available to 20 states.

The grant applications opened on Aug. 2 for the U.S. territories and the following states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming.

Tiana Epps-Johnson, founder and executive director of CTCL,Ā said in a statementĀ released Friday, ā€œUnfortunately, local election departments remain severely underfunded after Congress cut Help America Vote Act funding last year to just $55 million nationwide, which means most rural election offices donā€™t get regular funding from the federal government,” she said.

ā€œThis program will help eligible rural and nonmetro election offices modernize outdated voting technology, improve access to voting for rural voters, seniors, and veterans, and make much-needed infrastructure updates to enhance election security and make voting smoother for everyone,” Epps-JohnsonĀ added.

CTCL didnā€™t immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

The grant funds are to be used for election administration between July 31 and Dec. 31, 2024,Ā according to CTCLā€™s website.

County election offices eligible for the grants are those that are defined as ā€œruralā€ and ā€œnonmetroā€ based on theĀ U.S. Department of Agricultureā€™s 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes. The populations ofĀ  ā€œruralā€ and ā€œnonmetroā€ counties range from 20,000 or more to fewer than 5,000. Metro counties start at population sizes of fewer than 250,000.

CTCL uses the U.S. Census Bureauā€™sĀ 2022 Citizen Voting Age PopulationĀ and theĀ Stewards of Democracy research by the Democracy FundĀ to determine how much funding to give jurisdictions based on their populations.

According to theĀ tiered funding categoriesĀ based on citizen voting age populations, counties with 5,000 or fewer U.S. adults can apply for a $5,000 grant, those with the population range of 5,001 to 25,000 can get $20,000, while counties with 25,001 to 100,000 can receive $50,000, and populations ranging from 100,001 to 250,000 can apply for a $100,000 grant.

According to CTCL, the funding can be used for ā€œkey human, physical, and technological assets that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has identified as necessary to conduct elections.ā€ These assets include voting locations, technical facilities, storage facilities, processing facilities, administrative facilities, voting hardware, IT systems, and personnel.

The grant funding is not the result of donations from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative this year, unlike in 2020, according to CTCLā€™s website.

CTCL poured about $350 million into local elections offices managing the 2020 election, with most of the funds donated to the nonprofit by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The nonprofit has claimed its 2020 election grants ā€” colloquially known as “Zuckerbucks” ā€” were allocated, allegedly without partisan preferenceĀ to make voting safer amid the pandemic.Ā 

However, a House Republican investigation found thatĀ less than 1%Ā of the funds were spent on personal protective equipment. Most of the funds were focused onĀ get-out-the-vote efforts and registrations.

While CTCL claims that more grants were awarded to counties won by former President Donald Trump than President Joe Biden, the nonprofitĀ gave larger grants and more money per capita to Democratic countiesĀ than to Republican ones.Ā Trump won more than five times as many counties as Biden in 2020.

Amid controversy surrounding the disproportionate resources funneled to Democratic jurisdictions and claims the imbalance helped sway the election in Biden’s favor, 28 states have either restricted or banned private funding of election offices,Ā according to Capital Research Center.

In 2022, CTCLĀ created a new project, called the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, which localities can join as members. TheĀ alliance awards fundsĀ to counties and municipalities under the Centers for Election Excellence program. The alliance will provide $80 million over five years “to envision, support, and celebrate excellence in U.S. election administration,”Ā according to CTCL.

Four counties ā€“ two in North Carolina and two in Utah ā€“ haveĀ both withdrawnĀ from the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence since last year. Some of the countiesā€™ election officials cited membership cost orĀ time commitmentĀ as their reasons for leaving.

In May, the U.S. House Ways and Means CommitteeĀ passed the End Zuckerbucks Act, a bill introduced by Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., that would amend the IRS code to prevent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from indirectly or directly providing funding for election administration.

In March,Ā Indiana enacted a lawĀ that would ban ā€œZuckerbucks 2.0,ā€ which is what the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence has been called by critics.

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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter at Just the News. Photo “First time voter” by Karri VanKirk CC BY-NC 2.0.

 

 


Reprinted with permission from Just the News.