Georgia Senate Passes Bill To Close Sneaky ‘Zuckbucks 2.0’ Loopholes

On Thursday, Georgia’s Senate passed a bill to ban local election offices working in violation of state law from using any type of private money to conduct elections.

It is also known as SB 222The measure states that all “costs and expenses related to conducting primaries, elections, runoffs, or other undertakings authorized or required by [state law] shall be paid from lawfully appropriated public funds.”

“[N]o county or municipal government, government employee, or election official shall solicit, take, or otherwise accept from any person a contribution, donation, service, or anything else of value for the purpose of conducting primaries or elections or in support of performing his or her duties under this chapter,” The measure is as follows: If the measure is signed into law, all local governments and election officials that accepted the funds before the law’s implementation will be required to return it. “to the entity which provided such thing of value within 14 days.”

The final vote fell along Party linesThe measure was approved by 33 Republicans, and 23 Democrats opposed.

The bill was introduced following DeKalb County’s announcement that it had been chosen to join the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence. Accepted The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) awarded a grant of $2 million. As The Federalist reportedThe Alliance is an Venture capital of $80 million Left-leaning nonprofits launched the website last year “systematically influence every aspect of election administration” Democrat-backed voting policy in local elections offices.

DeKalb officials accepted the grant from Alliance despite Georgia Republicans passing SB 202 in 2021. DeKalb officials requested that the county’s financial department apply for the grant instead of their election office accepting the funds. Dele Lowman Smith, DeKalb Board of Registration and Elections Chair admittedThis was accomplished “since election offices are not allowed to receive grants directly.”

“It wasn’t just the spirit of the Election Integrity Act of 2021 that was violated, it was also in the manner in which it was done — without the full election board’s knowledge; conspiring with high-level DeKalb County employees without transparency, and with what was a blatant effort to circumvent Georgia’s election laws,” Marci McCarthy is the chair of DeKalb County GOP and spoke to The Federalist. “I commend the Georgia Senate for passing SB 222.”

CTCL was one of the many groups that received support during the 2020 election. Many millions of dollars Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO These are “Zuckbucks” were given to local election offices across the country in battleground states in an effort to reform how elections were managed. Even worse, the grants were heavily skewed towards Democrat-majority areas, effectively making it a massive Democrat getout-the vote operation.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence — of which CTCL is a key partner — is attempting to replicate the strategy ahead of the 2024 elections. This is a Recent reportThe Honest Elections Project, and the John Locke Foundation showed how the Alliance seeks. skirt Existing “Zuckbucks” Bans and restrictions passed by 24 states By providing election offices “scholarships” These scholarships are used to pay for membership fees. These scholarships are then “instantly converted into ‘credits’ that member offices can use to buy services from CTCL and other Alliance partners.”

For consideration, SB222 will now be sent to Georgia’s House of Representatives.

Shawn Fleetwood, a staff writer for The Federalist, is a graduate of The University of Mary Washington. He also works as a State Content Writer for Convention of States Action. His work has been featured in many outlets, including RealClearPolitics. RealClearHealth. Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood