{"id":6196,"date":"2023-10-09T05:03:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T05:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6196"},"modified":"2023-10-09T14:51:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T14:51:10","slug":"after-evers-vetoes-wisconsin-lawmakers-propose-constitutional-amendment-to-ban-private-zuckerbucks-election-funding-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=6196","title":{"rendered":"After Evers Vetoes, Wisconsin Lawmakers Propose Constitutional Amendment to Ban Private \u2018Zuckerbucks\u2019 Election Funding in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/after-evers-vetoes-wisconsin-lawmakers-propose-constitutional-amendment-to-ban-private-zuckerbucks-election-funding-in-2024\/gastarnewsstaff\/2023\/10\/09\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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by Natalia Mittelstadt<\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wisconsin voters may be able to ban \u201cZuckerbucks\u201d \u2014 the injection of private money into public election administration \u2014 from their elections next year, before the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n

The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL)\u00a0poured nearly $350 million<\/a>\u00a0into local elections offices managing the 2020 election, with most of the funds donated to the nonprofit by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.\u00a0The nonprofit has claimed its 2020 election grants \u2014 colloquially known as \u201cZuckerbucks\u201d \u2014 were allocated without partisan preference\u00a0to make voting safer amid the pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After\u00a0two unsuccessful attempts<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0enact a ban on Zuckerbucks<\/a>, the Wisconsin state legislature is working to pass a constitutional amendment proposal for voters to decide on in the April 2024 primary election that would prevent private funding of elections,\u00a0The Federalist reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Critics of the unprecedented level of private funding injected into election administration offices in 2020 argue the grants were awarded disproportionately to boost voter participation in swing state Democratic strongholds. A House Republican investigation found that\u00a0less than 1 percent<\/a>\u00a0of the funds were spent on personal protective equipment. Most of the funds were focused on\u00a0get-out-the-vote efforts and registrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following controversy surrounding the disproportionate resources funneled to Democratic jurisdictions and claims the imbalance helped sway the election in Biden\u2019s favor,\u00a025 states have either restricted or banned the use of private money to fund elections, while several counties have also restricted or banned the funds,\u00a0according to the Capital Research Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CTCL gave Wisconsin roughly\u00a0$10.1 million in Zuckerbucks<\/a>\u00a0for the 2020 presidential election, which was distributed over \u201c31 grants\u00a0above the $5,000 minimum to Wisconsin cities and townships,\u201d the Capital Research Center reported. \u201cThree of these grants went to counties, while 28 went directly to specific cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of those 28 grants just 8 of the recipient localities were won by Trump, while 20 were won by Biden. Together, these 20 cities received $9 million or 90 percent of all CTCL funds in Wisconsin,\u201d\u00a0the report adds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Wisconsin state legislature passed bills in 2021 and 2022 that would have, respectively, regulated and banned the use of private money in election administration. However, Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vetoed both bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am objecting to this bill in its entirety because I object to the ban on governments using private grant funds for election administration,\u201d\u00a0Evers wrote in his veto<\/a>\u00a0of the most recent bill banning Zuckerbucks.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of the source of additional funding for election administration, election administrators must always run elections according to state and federal law,\u201d\u00a0Evers later added<\/a>. \u201cBy prohibiting donations or grants to election agencies, this bill unnecessarily restricts the use of resources that may be needed to ensure elections are administered effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result of the vetoes, the Republican-controlled state legislature is seeking to put a constitutional amendment on the April 2024 primary ballot for Wisconsin voters to decide whether to ban Zuckerbucks. The constitutional\u00a0amendment has been introduced in the state legislature and is expected to be\u00a0voted on in the General Assembly<\/a>\u00a0this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am honored to be a supporting author on the constitutional amendment prohibiting outside money from influencing our elections and election processes,\u201d amendment co-sponsor and state Rep. Ty Bodden (R) said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0posted on X (formerly Twitter) late last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know Zuckerbucks played a terrible role in the 2020 election and that must never be allowed to happen again,\u201d\u00a0he later added<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the Wisconsin governor has prevented the enactment of a statewide ban on Zuckerbucks, counties in the state have implemented their own local restrictions and bans. Thus far, 19 counties in Wisconsin have enacted Zuckerbucks bans,\u00a0according to the Wisconsin Voter Alliance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amid the Zuckerbucks bans, however, CTCL has found a legal loophole in some instances with its\u00a0U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence<\/a>, a project that awards funds to counties and municipalities under the Centers for Election Excellence program. The alliance will provide $80 million over five years \u201cto envision, support, and celebrate excellence in U.S. election administration,\u201d\u00a0according to CTCL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he Alliance has begun to expand into states with bans or limits in place including Cache and Weber counties in\u00a0Utah<\/a>\u00a0and DeKalb County in\u00a0Georgia<\/a>,\u201d the election integrity watchdog, the\u00a0Honest Elections Project, wrote in an April report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBanning private election funding is a necessary step to thwart the influence of private election funding, but the Alliance\u2019s expansion into states with these bans is proof they are not a silver bullet,\u201d the report later added. \u201cVigilant oversight by lawmakers, rigorous reporting requirements, additional changes to state laws, and total transparency from election offices are also key to maintaining the integrity of elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

While only federal campaign finance laws apply to candidates and groups participating in federal elections (i.e., congressional and presidential elections),\u00a0states<\/a>\u00a0can enact and enforce their own campaign finance laws for state and local elections. Idaho, Montana and North Carolina have also advanced\u00a0legislation\u00a0<\/a>to either enact or tighten existing bans.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter at Just the News.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Reprinted with permission from Just the News<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n

The post After Evers Vetoes, Wisconsin Lawmakers Propose Constitutional Amendment to Ban Private \u2018Zuckerbucks\u2019 Election Funding in 2024<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/after-evers-vetoes-wisconsin-lawmakers-propose-constitutional-amendment-to-ban-private-zuckerbucks-election-funding-in-2024\/gastarnewsstaff\/2023\/10\/09\/ by Natalia Mittelstadt \u00a0 Wisconsin voters may be able…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6197,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6196\/revisions\/6197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}