Leftist Groups Tapping $1 Billion to Vastly Expand the Private Financing of Public Elections

Democrats and their progressive allies have been expanding their unprecedented efforts to use the private sector to influence and run elections.

According to public records, these partisan organizations are supported by groups with more that $1 billion in their possession. They work with state and local boards, to influence functions that were long the province of government or political parties.

Registering and turning out voters—once handled primarily by political parties—and design of election office websites and mail-in ballots are being handed over to those same nonprofits, which are staffed by progressive activists that include former Democratic Party advocates, organized labor adherents, and community organizers.

Republicans opposed these efforts and passed legislation in 24 states that has stopped the private funding of elections since 2020. The GOP doesn’t have a similar, hands-on effort to influence workers and election boards, and some states have not been able to implement the private-funding bans.

“There is a cottage industry of 501c3s in public policy and in the political arena, trying to shape the future of immigration or education or any other topic,” said Kimberly Fiorello, a former Republican state representative in Connecticut. “Increasingly they are about elections, election administration, election technology, ballot design, and all with big funding. These groups seem innocuous, but they aren’t innocuous because they are funded by one political side.”

Many progressive groups trying to influence elections are linked to Arabella Advisors. This Washington-based for-profit consulting firm was founded by Eric Kessler. White House appointee During the Clinton administration.

Tax filings reveal that between 2020-2021, Arabella’s projects include the New Venture Fund and the Hopewell Fund, Sixteen Thirty Fund and Secure Democracy USA. They had combined revenues of $1.3 Billion. Arabella supports non-profits in 2020: $529 Million To “defend democracy.”

It coincided also with the rise of private/public election partnerships. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife, Priscilla, donated an Estimated $350 Million To the progressive Center for Tech and Civil Life, (CTCL), to support local efforts in the pandemic -challenged 2020 elections

The vote was marked by changes in social-distancing regulations encouraging early and mail voting, policies which Republicans want to return to pre-pandemic guidelines. The grants of “Zuckerbucks” Oder “Zuckbucks,” As they are called by conservative critics, they were supposed to be impartial, but research revealed that they were disproportionately allocated in areas that boost Democratic voter turnout.

Republicans have shown little interest in defending their opponents’ strategies, other than imposing legislative restrictions on the private financing of elections. Scott Walter, president and CEO of the conservative Capital Research Center said this month to a Zoom audience made up of Greenwich, Conn. residents that 2020 was an exception in the way outside influences shaped voting.

“It was only in 2020 with the so-called ZuckBucks, and it wasn’t illegal because no one ever dreamt of having something like this,” Walter said. “There haven’t been any efforts by Republicans that we’re aware of to do anything like this anywhere.”

Over the past two decades, Democratic interests have tried many things to counter voter ID. They sought same-day voter registration and extended early voting.

There are many other ventures.

• Training election officials by CTCL or similar organizations is promising “nonpartisan” Learning opportunities These training opportunities used to be the core of the Election CenterA 1,500-member trade organization that includes administrators as well as election officials.
• CTCL attempts to generate favorable media attention: Setting up interviews between election offices and media outlets and placing opinion pieces in local newspapers, under the guise of election officials. Using a prewritten template, the op-eds lament the lack of public funds for elections. (Stuart BaumStaffer at CTCL, In October, Greenwich’s voting registrars received my letter: “A reporter from the Washington Post is interested in learning more about your experiences with your aging voting machines … specifically the unfortunate meltdowns that you’ve experienced with them.”)
• CTCL was notified by local officials who were sympathetic to its needs. A Information request for December From an attorney from conservative Americans for Public Trust, was sent to CTCL via Macoupin (Illinois), County Clerk Pete Duncan. “attached is a FOIA you may already be aware of, but I figured I would pass it along to you.”
• Lobbying at both the federal and state levels. Open Secrets reports that New Venture, Sixteen Thirty Fund and Hopewell Fund spent $6.8 million lobbying Congress in a combined total of $6.8 millions last year. According to state lobbying records, New Venture, Hopewell and Secure Democracy spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past five year on issues such as election reform.

The two parties and their allies work together to support and propose new laws for the country. They also oppose any such measures from the opposite side. This makes lobbying more fair. Democrat efforts are particularly troubled by foes due to their connections to the same groups who claim they provide nonpartisan training for election officials and allow private money flow more freely.

Two weeks before the passage of the March 2021 bill banning private financing of elections, Georgia’s Hopewell Fund & Secure Democracy USA sent lobbyists into the Atlanta Capitol Building to try to halt it. They won a loophole that allowed DeKalb County in February to accept a $2 million grant from CTCL—this despite the law’s being drafted in part by Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation.

“Now it looks like some of these states will have to go back and amend their legislation to ensure things like DeKalb can’t happen,” Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action for America, told RealClearInvestigations (RCI). Georgia legislators moved to Strengthen the law Following the DeKalb county grant

Utah’s Cache and Weber county clerks have paid $1,600 each to participate in CTCL’s so called voter integrity plan.

CTCL announces that more grants and memberships will be available soon. “once membership paperwork is finalized,” According to Emails RCI obtained this information by submitting a public records inquiry.

Utah legislators passed a measure last year. It is illegal for elections offices to accept private grants, “the way it’s written, I could technically take grant money if I wanted for certain activities, but I choose not to because I don’t want to push the envelope,” Ricky Hatch (Weber County clerk) was a member CTCL’s advisory panel. Zoom event This year, earlier.

Hatch declined an interview request.

CTCL has many allies, including the National Vote at Home InstituteThe Center for Democracy and Voting Rights Lab, Rock the Vote and the Center for Secure and Modern Elections. These groups have been active for many years. CTCL was used Symposiums and presentations to election officials throughout the United States.

The Election Center, the national association representing election officials, has been the number one source of information and workshops on elections for many decades. Many events take place each year. CTCL is now one of the presenters Event tentatively planned for April.

CTCL board director is the Election Center’s spokesperson and CEO of Programs. Tammy Patrick who is also a senior consultant to the elections section of the Democracy Fund.

Patrick requested, but did not answer emailed questions.

The Biden administration also attempted to stop state probes into possible voting fraud by sending both wide and narrow messages. Particular warnings To states that engage in post-election research that could potentially expose election malfeasance.

A state audit Texas’s former Dallas City Council member and convicted felon asked for mail ballots to 393 individuals as 2020 presidential election neared. RCI reviewed the ballot applications and found that more than 90% of those voters were Democrats.

Teri Hodge Indicted for a crime in 2010. She was charged with tax fraud in connection to her role in a city hall corruption and extortion scheme. Felicia Pitre, along with several assistants, helped to increase the party’s voter base by signing up voters and signing up more than 400 county residents to receive mail-in votes.

“This was not illegal,” Sam Taylor, a spokesperson for the Texas Secretary-of-State’s office, said this.

However, the findings would usually lead to further investigation into the accuracy and verification of the applications by calling the voters.

Taylor’s office tried to expand its investigation but was stopped by a Directive from the U.S. Department of Justice July 2021: A statement that contact with voters put them in danger of violating federal laws about voter intimidation was issued.

“There is DOJ guidance that says that talking to voters about things like this [how they applied to vote by mail] is potentially considered voter harassment or voter intimidation,” Jacqueline Hagan Doyer was the legal director for the Forensic Audit Division, Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

Hodge was also a state representative who served on the election committee. He could not be reached to comment.

“Since 2018, we’ve seen Democrats catch up with the Republican strategy of getting voters to vote,” Paul Bentz is a political consultant from Arizona. He said that voter registration, early voting and mail-in ballots were the cornerstones for this strategy.

In 2021, The Republican National Committee announced the Election Integrity Committee. It produced A 24-page report It was several months later. The committee did not do anything after the report, which demanded that outside aid for elections be strictly prohibited.

“The RNC established an election integrity committee to examine how Democrats attack election integrity—and more importantly, to lay out a blueprint for protecting our elections from the far-left,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel According to the Washington Examiner The report was published.

Joe Gruters, Chairman of the Committee, did not respond to a request for interviews.

RCI was informed by Mac Warner, West Virginia’s Republican Secretary-of-State, that his party must be more aggressive in elections and use some of the same tactics used by their opponents.

“When you’ve lost so many elections, you finally have to decide to fight fire with fire,” Warner, who is a candidate for the gubernatorial office in 2024, said. “You don’t win elections by not getting ballots out there. You can start playing by their rules and win an election. It’s time to go in another direction.”