A group of left-wing activists that allegedly assisted in the manipulation of the election system in favor of Democrats in 2020 is reportedly trying to skirt prohibitions against the private funding of election activities.
The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) is holding a webinar Thursday with a national federal grants expert to use $700 million in Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) funding to help state and local election officials improve election operations, The Federalist reported Friday.
Elections are typically funded by state and local budgets — with occasional federal assists. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, private and philanthropic funding for local election offices to the tune of $332 million was made available by the CTCL, with donations from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
CTCL money financed the takeover of city and county election offices by left-wing activists, The Federalist reported, and made those a platform to implement preferred practices, voting methods, ballot harvesting efforts, and data-sharing agreements that were favorable to Democrat candidates.
There are now 27 states that prohibit, limit, or regulate the use of private or philanthropic funding to run elections, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
CTCL announced the webinar in its regular e-newsletter sent to thousands of election officials who are part of its network, The Federalist reported. The webinar intends to advise those on how to get grants from FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which according to FEMA, is intended to "help state, local, tribal, and territorial governments address future risks to natural disasters, foster greater community resilience, and reduce disaster suffering."
In its newsletter, CTCL said the grants are "to ensure that local jurisdictions can increase resilience of critical services from natural hazards." It's theory is because elections are a core element of government function, they "are a critical service and eligible for this government funding."
The webinar plans to cover the application process, and "will include sample content, as well as inspiration for what the grant funds can be used for."
It is not known how CTCL plans to advise election officials to tap into such a large resource of federal funding that has nothing to do with elections, even if it argues that elections are a "core element" of government function.
But the author of The Federalist report, William Doyle, research director at The Caesar Rodney Election Research Institute in Irving, Texas, who specializes in economic history and the private funding of American elections, raised concern the CTCL and radicalized Democrats "appear to be up to mischief once again."
"[Lawmakers] should subject their relationship with the BRIC [Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities] grant program, and public election offices in general, to closer scrutiny, with an eye toward eliminating election interference in 2024 by yet another well-funded cabal of 'election fortifiers,'" he wrote.
Newsmax reached out to the CTCL for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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