[WND] Echoing the private financing of public elections that critics saw as heavily favoring Democrats in 2020, some of America’s richest foundations are pouring money into a similar effort again, in the face of more organized conservative resistance.
A nonprofit group called the Audacious Project, whose supporters include the Gates and MacArthur foundations and the Bridgespan Group, a consultant whose clients include Planned Parenthood, has committed $80 million to a progressive organization, the Center for Tech and Civic Life, to provide grant funding to run local elections.
As part of its review process, the CTCL is sending operatives to local elections offices, examining practices and equipment, and acquiring the sorts of data coveted by political campaigns. Despite public claims of transparency, the center has refused to provide basic information about its operations.
The CTCL became a focus of controversy in 2020 when it helped direct hundreds of millions of dollars donated by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan to help run elections during the pandemic, which prompted ad hoc changes to rules minimizing in-person voting. Many objected to that as unlawful. While the outside assistance was touted as nonpartisan, post-election analysis found that the so-called "Zuckerbucks" or "Zuck Bucks" were distributed on a partisan basis that favored Democrats.
In response to concerns about the private money, 24 states and 12 counties have prohibited elections offices from accepting it. Democratic governors in three of the states selected to be part of the CTCL’s initial membership group — Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Michigan — overrode legislation banning private funding of elections, stoking more concern that the grants are a ruse for partisan infiltration of elections offices.
The CTCL in April created a consortium called the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, whose six partner groups include the CTCL, and are intertwined to specialize in different aspects of elections. For an annual fee, the consortium offers assistance to elections offices, providing online tutorials, consulting, and other services on an as-needed basis. A basic alliance membership costs a municipality $1,600 a year; a premium membership runs $4,800 annually.
Both subscriptions offer consulting, coaching, and conferencing, and belonging obligates the member to "make non-monetary (but highly significant) contributions to the broader activities of the Alliance." 
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