Legislation governing private funding for election administration in the United States, 2022
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In the run-up to the November 3, 2020, general election, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, donated $350 million to the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL). They also donated $50 million to the Center for Election Innovation and Research, saying the money was intended to help "election officials across the nation reach their voters with critical information about voter registration, mail voting, early voting, polling locations and hours, and the vote-counting process."[1]
These donations sparked debate about the propriety of non-governmental entities providing private funding for election administration efforts. In a Newsweek op-ed, the Brennan Center's Wendy Weiser and Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, said, "[The COVID-19] pandemic poses a national emergency impacting the very foundation of our democracy, and the Senate adjourned until Labor Day without giving states and local officials the funding they need to run safe and fair elections this fall. … We have reached an extraordinary point where we have no choice but to look to civil society—the business community and other private groups and organizations—to help fill the breach." Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, said that CTCL staffers were former Democratic Party operatives whose goal was to improve Democrats' electoral prospects: "Can you imagine if the Charles Koch Foundation were to become involved with election officials? It would be front page news in The New York Times."[2][3] For more information about about CTCL grants given to local election officials in 2020, see this article.
As state legislatures convened in 2021, lawmakers in several states introduced bills that would, if enacted, prohibit or otherwise regulate the use of private funding for election administration. This trend continued into 2022. This article presents overview information about such legislation introduced during or carried over to each state's 2022 legislative session.
For more information about election legislation proposed and enacted in 2022, visit our election legislation tracker.
Private funding legislation
The table below lists private funding bills introduced during or carried over to each state's 2022 legislative session. The following information is included for each bill:
- State
- Bill number
- Official bill name or caption
- Most recent action date
- Legislative status
- Sponsor party
- Topics dealt with by the bill
Bills are organized by state and then by most recent action. The table displays up to 100 results. To view more bills, use the arrows in the upper-right corner. Clicking on a bill will open its page on Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker, which includes bill details and a summary.
See also
- Ballotpedia's election legislation tracker
- Ballotpedia's The Ballot Bulletin
- Election laws and legislation in the United States
- Laws governing the private funding of elections
- Legislation governing private funding for election administration in the United States, 2022
- Legislation governing private funding for election administration in the United States, 2021
Footnotes
- ↑ Facebook, "Mark Zuckerberg: October 13, 2020," accessed March 23, 2021
- ↑ Newsweek, "Let the Private Sector Help Save the Election. We Have No Choice | Opinion," September 2, 2020
- ↑ Legal Newsline, "Center for Tech and Civic Life: Democratic election operatives masquerading as concerned voters’ group, critic says," August 24, 2020
