Louisiana House Approves Constitutional Amendment To Keep ‘Zuckbucks’ Out Of Elections
The Louisiana House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment proposal on Wednesday that would ban the use of private money in the conduction of elections.
HB 311 stipulates that “[n]o funds, goods, or services donated by a foreign government or a nongovernmental source shall be used to conduct elections unless provided for in the election code and subject to restrictions provided by general law.” The measure successfully cleared the House (70-30) with the two-thirds majority support required to advance constitutional amendment proposals and will now head to the state Senate for consideration.
If ultimately approved by two-thirds of the state’s upper chamber, the proposed amendment would then require approval from Louisiana voters in order to ratify it and amend the state constitution. According to HB 311, the proposal would appear on the ballot for Louisiana’s Oct. 14 elections.
During the 2020 election, nonprofits such as the Center for Tech and Civic Life received hundreds of millions of dollars from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. These “Zuckbucks” were poured into local election offices in battleground states around the country to change how elections were administered, such as by expanding unsupervised election protocols like mail-in voting and the use of ballot drop boxes. To make matters worse, the grants were heavily skewed toward Democrat-majority counties, essentially making it a massive, privately funded Democrat get-out-the-vote operation.
Louisiana received approximately $1.1 million “Zuckbucks” in the lead-up to the 2020 election, according to the Capital Research Center.
Ahead of the 2024 elections, the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence — an $80 million venture by left-wing nonprofits to “systematically influence every aspect of election administration” and advance Democrat-backed voting policies in local election offices — is attempting to replicate a similar strategy to that of 2020. In a recent report, the Honest Elections Project and the John Locke Foundation revealed how the Alliance — of which CTCL is a key partner — seeks to provide election offices “scholarships” to cover membership costs, which can then be “converted into ‘credits’ that member offices can use to buy services from CTCL and other Alliance partners.”
In states where “Zuckbucks” are banned or restricted, the Alliance’s strategy is slightly different. During a previous interview with The Federalist, Jason Snead, the executive director of the Honest Elections Project, explained that since election offices in these states aren’t permitted to accept or use private money to conduct elections, groups like CTCL will allow interested offices to “buy their way [into the Alliance] for a relatively small sum.”
This strategy allows “the Alliance to spread its influence even in states where lawmakers have tried to prevent it,” Snead said.
HB 311’s approval by the Louisiana Senate and voters would make Louisiana the 26th state to ban or restrict the use of private money in elections.
Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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