In the wake of the 2020 elections, Republicans across the nation raised the alarm over revelations that a Chicago-based nonprofit had dispersed nearly $420 million in grants, technical assistance, and other monetary contributions to assist local officials in administering elections.
The little-known Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) had, with little attention, issued grants to nearly 2,500 county elections offices across 47 states and the District of Columbia before the 2020 election, using $350 million donated by Facebook—now Meta—founder Mark Zuckerberg for its Safe Elections Project.
The CTCL grants and awards were largely accorded to local elections officials to manage the voting accommodations mandated by public health officials during pandemic-skewered 2020.
Money was also made available by CTCL for county elections administrators to partner with community organization members for training in expanding voter registration, ballot curing, and mail-in voting among other outreach initiatives.
Although CTCL describes itself as a bipartisan nonprofit, saying that it issued grants to any elections officials who sought assistance, Republicans maintain the center aggressively recruited officials in counties and precincts that are traditionally Democratic—most notably in densely urban areas.
Conservatives railed against what they called “Zuckerbucks” or “Zuck bucks,” claiming that CTCL’s grants and other private contributions to election offices masked as COVID-19 relief was, in fact, an orchestrated effort to drive-up 2020 Democratic voter turnout and put Democrat Joe Biden in the White House.
