The Virginia General Assembly has passed legislation that seeks to prohibit private individuals from funding state and local elections, targeting individuals like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The legislation states:
“The State Board, the Department, each local electoral board, and all offices of the general registrar shall not solicit, accept, use, or dispose of any money, grants, property, or services given by a private individual or nongovernmental entity for the purpose of funding voter education and outreach programs, voter registration programs, or any other expense incurred in the conduct of elections.”
Mark Zuckerberg allegedly did more than just censor information to influence the 2020 election. A report alleges he also gave over $400 million to two organizations that funded local government election offices – and it came with strings attached.
Writing for the New York Post, William Doyle reported that Zuckerberg gave $419.5 million to two non-profit organizations that ostensibly donated money to local election offices for their operations. These include the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) and the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR).
However, according to former Ohio Attorney General Ken Blackwell, the funds came with specific instructions on how local elections offices would spend the money.
Blackwell wrote that the organizations “dictated exactly how elections were to be conducted, down to the number of ballot drop boxes and polling places.” He added, “The Constitution gives state lawmakers sole authority for managing elections, but these grants put private interests firmly in control.”
CTCL also demanded there be universal mail-in voting by suspending existing election laws and extending deadlines that “favored mail-in over in-person voting” while also expanding “opportunities for ballot curing,” according to the New York Post.
For example, the two Zuckerberg organizations funded “vote navigators” in the swing state of Wisconsin. The vote navigators “assisted voters, potentially at their front doors, to answer questions, assist in ballot curing, and witness absentee ballot signatures.”
CTCL claimed some of the funds were used to protect poll workers from contracting the virus. But, according to The Federalists’ Mollie Hemingway, “relatively little money was spent on measures to guard the health of election workers.”
These organizations appear to have had an outsized impact on the final election tallies. According to research conducted by the New York Post, Zuckerberg’s funds “significantly increased” Joe Biden’s vote margin in the critical swing states.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin expressed support for election integrity during his gubernatorial campaign. However, he has not expressed public support as governor for the bills as of this writing. His spokesperson said, “the governor “will review the legislation when it comes to his desk.”
