Rushmore State News

South Dakota has joined a growing list of states that have banned election officials from accepting private donations to help underwrite the management of elections. 

Leading up to the 2020 general election, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg funneled millions of dollars into the elections through nonprofits. The practice has now been banned or restricted by 16 states, according to the most recent update on the issue by Capital Research Center (CRC).

“Elections should be funded by government, and we will not risk creating avenues for big-tech billionaires to unfairly influence our free and open elections,” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, said when she signed the bill into law.

The South Dakota law is a complete ban. It prohibits “any political subdivision” from accepting “funds, grants or gifts” for the cost of running an election from any source but a government source.

CRC, which has been on the trail of the “Zuck Bucks” since the summer before the 2020 election, said that the money “may have tipped the election to Joe Biden.”

Biden won the national popular vote by more than 7 million votes but former President Donald Trump carried South Dakota with nearly 62% of the vote. 

The Capital Research Center is a Washington-based nonprofit.

Zuckerberg funneled the money principally through two nonprofits, the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) and the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), which in turn granted the money to election officials in battleground states under the guise of providing for safe elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. CRC research states that a tiny percentage of the funds went to personal protective equipment to prevent against contracting the virus, and the disbursement of the money was heavily weighted toward Democratic counties in the battleground states.

In Pennsylvania, for instance, the five largest per capita grants went to counties that Biden won. These were Philadelphia, $6.56; Centre, $5.46; Chester, $4.79; Delaware, $3.77; and Lehigh, $2.04.

In contract, the largest per capita grant to a county won by Trump won was $1.10 per capita in Berks County.

Banning Zuckerberg money has been a key focus of efforts, principally among Republican lawmakers, to tighten election practices. Their moves followed Trump's unproven claims of election malfeasance. 

Although 16 state have been successful in passing the bans, the governors, all Democrats, of six states have vetoed bills banning the practice.

In Congress, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), who co-chairs the House Election Integrity Caucus, introduced the “End Zuckerbucks Act” (House Resolution 4290) in July 2021. The bill has seen no action in the Democratic-controlled body.