A Bill Banning ‘Zuckbucks 2.0’ In Georgia Elections Is Headed To Gov. Brian Kemp’s Desk

The Georgia General Assembly has passed a new bill which effectively prohibits local election offices from using private funding to conduct elections. The bill, SB 222, specifies that costs and expenses associated with conducting elections must be paid from public funds. Therefore, no municipal government, election official, or government employee may solicit or accept donations, services, money or anything of value to conduct primaries, elections, runoffs or any other undertaking, as explained by the measure. The Senate passed the bill 32-21 on Wednesday, following approval from the House of Representatives, which cleared the measure 100-69 on Monday.

This bill was introduced after DeKalb County, a Democratic stronghold, received a $2 million grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) and was selected to join the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence. The Alliance is an organization launched by left-wing nonprofits, including CTCL, which seeks to influence election administration and advance Democrat-backed voting policies in local government election offices. The grants were heavily biased towards Democrat-majority counties, making it a significant Democrat get-out-the-vote operation during the 2020 elections. During that year, CTCL received hundreds of millions of dollars from Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO. These ‘Zuckbucks’ were distributed to several battleground states around the nation to change the way elections were administered, such as expanding unsecured election protocols and the use of ballot boxes.

In 2021, Georgia passed SB 202, which banned the private funding of local election offices. However, DeKalb officials used a loophole to justify accepting the grant from the Alliance. Georgia Republicans have passed this new legislation (SB 222) to address any shortcomings in the previous bill quickly. Republican lawmakers acted fast to protect election integrity and prevent counties favouring Democrat-leaning areas over smaller, more rural counties.

The U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence seeks to add another strategy ahead of the 2024 elections. Recently, the Honest Elections Project and the John Locke Foundation released a report uncovering how the Alliance aims to skirt existing “Zuckbucks” bans or restrictions passed by 24 states by offering scholarships to cover membership costs. These scholarships are immediately transformed into credits that member offices may use to buy services from CTCL and other Alliance partners.

A spokesperson for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp informed The Federalist that the signing decision would be made public as soon as the bill review process is completed.

This article has been updated to include a statement from Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.

Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action, and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood