Citizens Election Research Center

Tag Center for Tech and Civic Life

The Shasta Scout – Article: County Board is Still Discussing a Nearly Three-Year-Old CTCL Election Grant

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Article: Shasta county still discussing controversial election grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life

In December 2022, the Shasta County Elections Office received good news: a national funding organization known as the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) had offered a $1.5 million grant to Shasta County. Conditions for using the grant required that it support election administration and that it not be used to replace normal budgeted expenses. 

The source of the funding was controversial. CTCL has come under fire because much of the money distributed before the 2020 election came from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. While concerns have been raised about whether CTCL funds might have been used to  influence the 2020 election, the six-member Federal Election Commission, which includes an equal mix of Republicans and Democrats, has unanimously concluded that no evidence of such interference exists.

Shasta County Clerk and Registrar of Voters (ROV) Cathy Darling Allen knew about the controversy related to CTCL when she brought forward a proposal to accept the grant funds a few months later, in February 2023. In a presentation to the Board, Darling Allen said she thought if the Board wished to accept the funds it would be extremely important to use them only for a purchase that could not possibly be connected to partisan purposes.

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The Shasta County Board is Still Discussing a Nearly Three-Year-Old Elections Grant. Here’s What Happened. – Shasta Scout – Reader ModeDownload

Center for Tech and Civic Life: Early Report on 2024 Rural and Nonmetro Election Infrastructure Grant Program
Early Report on 2024 Rural and Nonmetro Election Infrastructure Grant Program – Center for Tech and Civic LifeDownload
Research- CTCL Election Grants Summer/Fall 2024

Center for Tech and Civic Life 2024 Rural and Nonmetro Election Infrastructure & Institute for Responsive Government Election Grants.

NEW CTCL GRANTS_ (2)Download
The Daily Signal – Article: ‘Zuckerbucks’ Hit Small Towns as Tech Group Finances More Election Offices

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Article: ‘Zuckerbucks’ tech group financing election offices in rural counties

The Center for Tech and Civic Life—which four years ago doled out controversial election grants that became known as “Zuckerbucks”—recently notified White Pine County, Nevada, of a $20,000 grant. 

The county, in a major battleground state going into the Nov. 5 presidential election, has a population of about 9,000 and is part of what the Left-aligned center calls its Rural and Nonmetro Election Infrastructure Grant Program. 

The notification to White Pine County came with a message from Tiana Epps-Johnson, CTCL’s executive director, and an agreement on how the $20,000 grant could be used. 

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‘Zuckerbucks’ Hit Small Towns as Tech Group Finances More Election Offices – Reader ModeDownload
The Federalist – Article: ‘Zuckbucks’ Group Coached Madison Clerk On ‘Combating Election Misinformation’

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Article: City clerk in major swing state Wisconsin received training from a “Zuckbucks” group on “combating election misinformation”

The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) funneled hundreds of millions of dollars from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to public election agencies in 2020, favoring left-leaning areas in key swing states and boosting Democrat turnout. The group launched the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence in 2022 to coordinate with other leftist groups and “systematically influence every aspect of election administration in target offices,” as revealed in an Honest Elections Project report.

The office of Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl has a history of involvement with both CTCL and the Alliance. After participating in a CTCL training aimed at “combating” so-called “election misinformation,” Witzel-Behl continued to participate in the group’s “misinformation” programming in the months leading up to the 2024 election, emails obtained by The Federalist in a Freedom of Information Act request suggest. Meanwhile, Witzel-Behl’s office recently sent out more than 2,200 duplicate ballots to residents last month.

Witzel-Behl “previously participated in [the group’s] Combating Election Misinformation training,” according to a June 11 email from Andrea Abbate, a CTCL associate director and communications manager. Sophie Lehman, a CTCL associate director, also sent the clerk an email on July 10 promoting an upcoming webinar on “Combating Election Misinformation.”

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Emails_ ‘Zuckbucks’ Group Coached WI Clerk On ‘Misinformation’ – Reader ModeDownload
The Nevada Globe – Article: Douglas County Awarded $50,000 Grant From Mark Zuckerberg’s Nonprofit For Election Security

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Article: The republican stronghold of Douglas County has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life 

The republican stronghold of Douglas County has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) for election support and security needs ahead of the general election in November. After CTCL donated and directed ~$400 million in “Zuckerbucks” into the 2020 election to support county election offices in primarily blue districts, 28 legislatures have banned the practice of taking nonprofit money to run elections.

The grant was uncovered through an open-records request submitted by Silver State Times. According to the report, Douglas County Grants Administrator Debbie Swickard applied for the grant on August 19, stating:

“As a rural County with limited funding a grant award will help us fill the gaps to purchase needed items for security. Being pro-active to mitigate any possible threat we would like to purchase transport carts for mail ballots and bullet proof glass for our election public counter. We are also in need for tables and shelving systems for our processing facility as well as tables for our vote centers. We are extremely grateful for any funding to help us maintain fair and safe elections for Douglas County.”

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Douglas County Awarded $50,000 Grant From Mark Zuckerberg’s NonProfit For Election Security – Nevada Globe – Reader ModeDownload
Restoration News – Article: Zuck Bucks Live Again in Nevada, Just in Time to Help Kamala’s Failing Campaign

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Article: Once again, Democrats are showing why our country must ban private funding for elections—and they’re using a Republican clerk to prove it

The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL)—the infamous group behind the 2020 “Zuck bucks” wave of private election grants that boosted Democratic turnout in key states—is at it again, this time with a new grant in Nevada, according to documents obtained by the Coalition Opposing Government Secrecy (COGS), a St. Louis-based government transparency watchdog.

This time, however, it was made possible by a Republican clerk known for castigating her constituents as lying “Kool-Aid drinkers.”

On Aug. 19, CTCL awarded $50,000 to Douglas County, Nevada, for “planning and operationalizing reliable and secure election administration . . . in 2024.” In return, CTCL’s grant application requires Douglas County to surrender information on its election operations, including a post-election report due by Jan. 31, 2025.

This language mirrors grants provided to thousands of county election offices in 2020 from CTCL, which received $350 million from billionaire mega-donor Mark Zuckerberg ostensibly to “fortify” the election amidst COVID-19. In fact, it helped juice Democratic turnout in key swing states, enough to oust President Trump from the White House, as analysis (including my own in early 2021) has demonstrated over and again.

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BREAKING_ Zuck Bucks Live Again in Nevada, Just in Time to Help Kamala’s Failing Campaign – Reader ModeDownload
The Federalist – Article: ‘Zuckbucks’ Group Acts As A Shadow Legislature In Rural America

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Article: Applications for the new round of CTCL grants opened in August. The organization has approved election funding in these jurisdictions.

The Center for Tech and Civic Life, which funneled millions in “Zuckbucks” to local election agencies in 2020 through grants favoring Democrat areas, recently announced another round of grants to “rural and nonmetro” election offices ahead of November. The leftist group has awarded grants to at least 11 jurisdictions so far, cultivating relationships with election officials while effectively taking on the legislature’s job of appropriating funds for elections.

Applications for the new round of CTCL grants opened Aug. 2, and the organization has so far approved election funding in at least the following jurisdictions: Colorado (San Juan County); Massachusetts (Orange); Maine (Belgrade, Caribou, Farmington, and West Paris); Minnesota (Nobles County); Nevada (White Pine County); New Hampshire (Meredith and Plymouth); and Vermont (Washington).

Many of these election officials expressed the need for funding and infrastructure, and CTCL has effectively taken on the role of a shadow legislature, granting money to fill the perceived needs of election officials. Doing so allows the group, which was responsible for election meddling to benefit Democrats in 2020, to curry favor with those officials.

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‘Zuckbucks’ Group Acting As Shadow Legislature In Rural America – Reader ModeDownload
FOIA Request Response: Navajo County, AZ

Correspondence between Navajo County Department of Elections officials and/or employees of the Center for Tech and Civic Life.

FOIA.Responses.Navajo.AZ_.CombinedDownload
CTCL Newsletter

The Center for Tech and Civic Life asks citizens for their “support to persuade congress to allocate $400 million dollars for election infrastructure.”

Urgent_-Support-Needed-for-400-Million-Election-Infrastructure-FundingDownload