By Michael Bielawski
Vermont in the past has seen outside private financial support for its public elections systems, as reported by VDC. It could happen again. “The Center for Tech and Civic Life,” an organization funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, provided funding in the 2020 general election and lists Vermont as an eligible state for this year’s general election.
Neither state officials nor the Center for Tech and Civic Life have responded to VDC requests (made this morning) about involvement in the election this November. More than 100 Vermont communities received election help in 2020.
VDC reported in 2021, “CTCL spent $250 million nationwide on ‘poll worker recruitment, hazard pay, and training, polling place rental, temporary staffing support, drive-through voting, equipment to process ballots and applications, personal protective equipment (PPE) for poll workers, and nonpartisan voter education from cities and counties.’”
The Center for Tech and Civic Life is a not-for-profit formed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan to “provide assistance to local election officials” according to the report.
It continues that over 100 Vermont communities saw some of this money during the 2020 election. Further investigation by VDC suggested that such money was not present during the 2022 midterms in Vermont.
John Klar, a VDC contributor, author, national blogger and former Vermont GOP gubernatorial candidate, suggests that ‘Zuckerbucks’ are back, at least on the national level.
“One of the companies alleged to have influenced the 2020 national election using money contributed by Mark Zuckerberg (aka “Zuck Bucks”) has announced another round of grants for 2024,” Klar, a Brookfield resident, wrote recently. “The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) claims its mission is to ‘increase civic participation,’ yet critics claim the organization is partisan and should not be permitted to insert its operatives into election offices.”
Klar quoted former Federal Election Commission member Hans von Spakovsky who was also taken aback by the development in 2020. Spakovsky said, “My reaction is that this was a carefully orchestrated attempt to convert official government election offices into get-out-the-vote operations for one political party and to insert political operatives into election offices to influence and manipulate the outcome of the election. … All states should ban private funding of government election offices no matter the source.”
Zuckerbucks in Vermont in 2024?
As of today, 28 states have banned outside private financial contributions to their election systems. Vermont is not one of them.
According to an April 2024 report by The Center for Election Innovation and Research, Vermont has “no restrictions” of any kind regarding outside financial influence over its elections, one of only 12 states with such status.
The CTCL lists Vermont on their list of eligible states to take their money. Their page states, “Applications are currently open to eligible election offices in 20 states—Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming—as well as the U.S. territories.”VDC reached out to CTCL and Vermont’s Secretary of State’s office to see if Vermont will be receiving any funds or services from their program. Any responses will be reported.
Noble-Prize-nominated physicist, speaking Saturday in Middlebury, has warned about Zuckerbucks
As reported in 2023 by True North Reports, a world-renowned physicist and a military fraud detector visited Vermont to discuss election integrity, and the subject of Zuckerbucks came up during their presentation.
Dr. Douglas Frank, Ph.D., explained that even after presenting data to seemingly sympathetic state legislators concerning evidence of election fraud in their states, once he left, financial influences [Zuckerbucks] again took over policy.
“Both committees [in the Pennsylvania state legislature] in both houses made a recommendation to the legislature that they throw out the entire state voter rolls in Pennsylvania,” Frank recalled. “They did, they threw their entire voter rolls because we proved that they had been abused and manipulated. And they hired a firm to rebuild the state voter rolls, that contract was rewarded for $10 million on Nov. 21 after the election.”
Frank went on to explain that the firm was paid for via Zuckerbucks and the changes he had advocated for in Pennsylvania were promptly undone. Frank will be back in Vermont this Saturday in Middlebury on Aug. 17, for a public event on election integrity.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle