Left-Wing Groups Opposing SAVE Act Are Bankrolled By Soros

More than 40 left-wing organizations (and/or some of their affiliates) opposing Republican efforts to prevent noncitizen voting in U.S. elections have collectively received more than $150 million from groups funded by leftist billionaire George Soros, a new analysis reveals.

On March 28, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR) released a letter directed at members of Congress, asking them to oppose the GOP-sponsored SAVE Act, which aims to close existing loopholes in federal law that foreign nationals could exploit to register and cast ballots in U.S. elections. As described by InfluenceWatch, LCCHR “serves as an umbrella organization for over 200 mostly left-wing organizations which lobby and advocate before Congress and other federal agencies on legislation and Presidential appointments to the executive departments and judiciary.”

The 112 left-wing organizations that signed onto the aforementioned letter “strongly” urged congressional representatives to “oppose” the SAVE Act, which they falsely claimed, “represents a shameful, divisive attempt to prevent millions of eligible U.S. citizens — disproportionately Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and other voters of color — from registering to vote.” The groups specifically parroted faux Democrat talking points that basic voting safeguards such as documentary proof of citizenship requirements are “onerous,” “harmful,” and “designed to restrict participation by lawfully registered voters.”

“The SAVE Act perpetuates a particularly heinous version of the voter fraud myth and, like other lies that provide the predicate for voter suppression while claiming to pursue ‘election integrity,’ is a solution in search of a problem that cynically trades on dangerous myths and stereotypes,” the letter reads. “This bill is based on misinformation that exploits the demographic fear stoked by those afraid of the fully inclusive, multiracial democracy the United States can and must become, and it erects a significant, unnecessary barrier to the ballot for many citizen voters.”

While the groups attempt to market their activism as a good-faith effort to defend so-called “civil and human rights,” a deep dive into their financial backgrounds suggests their interests are far more partisan than they let on.

Analysis conducted by retired data scientist Earl Glynn and reviewed by The Federalist indicates that many of the leftist organizations (and/or their affiliates) that signed onto the March 28 letter obtained more than $130 million from groups aligned with the Soros-funded Open Society Foundations since 2016. Additional research conducted by The Federalist identified several more signatory groups and their affiliates who also apparently received such funds, bringing the total to more than $150 million.

Founded and financed by Soros, the Open Society Foundations (OSF) is a “private grantmaking foundation” and operates as “the main hub of a Soros-funded network of more than 20 national and regional foundations, making it one of the largest political philanthropies in the world,” according to InfluenceWatch. The radical group reportedly “gives away nearly a billion dollars per year to left-wing organizations around the world to advance [Soros’] vision of an ‘open society.’”

OSF’s website includes a database detailing financial grants the Open Society network has given to various groups in recent years. This seemingly includes many of the organizations that signed the letter encouraging members of Congress to oppose the SAVE Act — including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

According to the OSF database, LCCHR has received 13 grants totaling $7.72 million from the Open Society Action Fund (formerly known as the Open Society Policy Center) from 2016-2023. One of these grants, distributed in 2016, totals $150,000 and was given to LCCHR to “support policy advocacy” related to so-called “voting rights” — a phrase manipulated by leftists to advocate for less secure, Democrat-backed voting policies.

Another example is the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the legal policy associate of the NAACP. OSF records show the former has received $17,914,500 from the Open Society network from 2016-2022. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. was notably gifted a one-year, $200,000 grant in 2022 from the Foundation to Promote Open Society with the purpose of “implement[ing] and develop[ing] an innovative campaign to defend and protect antiracism education, critical race theory and advance justice for all.”

As previously indicated, The Federalist uncovered additional Open Society grants apparently given to several LCCHR letter signatories not included in Glynn’s initial analysis.

For instance, OSF’s database shows that People for the American Way, the name of a left-wing advocacy group opposed to conservative ideals, received four grants totaling $2.375 million from the Open Society network between 2017-2023. The records also indicate the group’s “charitable arm,” the People for the American Way Foundation, received five grants totaling $1.915 million from the network beginning as far back as 2016.

Other notable left-wing organizations that signed the LCCHR’s letter opposing the SAVE Act and OSF records show received monies from Open Society groups include the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law ($10,729,441), Demos ($5,675,000), and the Michelle Obama-founded When We All Vote ($1,500,000).

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Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served 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