FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 3, 2024
Effort generated more than 1.7 million voter contacts
Arlington, VA – Wisconsin voters yesterday approved a constitutional amendment to ban the financing of local election offices by ideological groups, corporations, Big Tech companies, and possible foreign interlopers—commonly referred to as ‘Zuckerbucks.’ An additional amendment stipulating that only officials designated by law may administer elections was also approved.
Legislation to ban ‘Zuckerbucks’ was twice vetoed by Democrat Gov. Tony Evers in previous years, but Wisconsin now joins a movement of 28 states to declare that elections should never be privatized.
Importantly for yesterday’s victory, the Election Integrity PAC led by ETI chairman Ken Cuccinelli launched a six-figure campaign to reach voters in ten counties, focusing on reliable GOP voters with histories of spotty turnout in the Spring. The effort, which generated more than 1.7 million voter contacts, also targeted ten school districts in predominantly conservative areas where voters would be motivated by school referenda also appearing on the ballot.
National Chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative (ETI) and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued the following statement:
“We’re pleased that voters acted resoundingly to ban Zuckerbucks after Governor Evers’ politically motivated vetoes. After all, one team doesn’t pay the refs for the Final Four, so why should one side be allowed to pay the ‘refs’ in our elections? The Left funneled money through election offices for partisan voter turnout in 2020, but pretended to be unbiased and non-partisan.
“The Assembly and Senate should be applauded for advancing this critical anti-corruption amendment which ultimately let voters decide whether the Zuckerbucks campaign financing scheme should continue to pollute Wisconsin’s elections. We’re profoundly grateful to the Election Integrity movement and our partners for their unwavering dedication to fair, secure, and transparent U.S. elections.”
During the 2020 election cycle, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, gave hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to nonprofits, including the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), which then funneled that money to thousands of election jurisdictions in 48 states and Washington, D.C. under the guise of “election administration.”
The funds from CTCL and their allies were strategically directed into Democrat-leaning jurisdictions at a rate of nearly 9 to 1 in Wisconsin during the 2020 cycle, including an estimated $10.1 million in Wisconsin via 31 so-called “grants” to tip the election scales unfairly in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, and Racine.
After dozens of states have since acted to ban ‘Zuckerbucks,’ CTCL and a coalition of left-wing organizations have re-doubled their efforts to circumvent state laws through the deceptively-named front group, U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence. The “Alliance” is designed to systematically influence every aspect of election administration, offering local election offices an extensive portfolio of grants, trainings, resources, and consulting services—all to achieve biased, partisan outcomes.
“Zuckerbucks shouldn’t pay for elections,” The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board previously wrote. “…[P]rivate election funding is inappropriate and sows distrust…This isn’t how elections should be run, especially in the current era of partisan mistrust.”
The Election Transparency Initiative, a partnership between the American Principles Project (APP) and Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America, was organized to combat federal H.R. 1 and H.R. 4 legislation and advocate for state-based election reforms that voters can trust.
Photo Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu
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