{"id":1912167,"date":"2023-04-09T13:27:27","date_gmt":"2023-04-09T17:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dekalb-county-officials-skirted-georgia-law-to-acquire-funds-from-left-wing-dark-money-elections-group\/"},"modified":"2023-04-09T13:30:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T17:30:58","slug":"dekalb-county-officials-skirted-georgia-law-to-acquire-funds-from-left-wing-dark-money-elections-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dekalb-county-officials-skirted-georgia-law-to-acquire-funds-from-left-wing-dark-money-elections-group\/","title":{"rendered":"DeKalb County Officials Skirted Georgia Law To Acquire Funds From Left-Wing Dark Money Elections Group"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdekalb-county-officials-skirted-georgia-law-to-acquire-funds-from-left-wing-dark-money-elections-group%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1912167&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<p>A series of communication records obtained by The Federalist reveal how high-ranking DeKalb County officials worked behind the scenes to skirt Georgia law by accepting grant money from a coalition of left-wing nonprofits designed to influence election operations in a manner election integrity advocates say benefit Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>In February, DeKalb County \u2014 one of Georgia\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.georgia-demographics.com\/counties_by_population\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">most populous<\/a>\u00a0localities and a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/2020-election\/results\/georgia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Democrat stronghold<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dekalbcountyga.gov\/news\/dekalb-county-voter-registration-elections-designated-center-election-excellence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a>\u00a0it had been selected to join the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence and that the county\u2019s commissioners had\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/decaturish.com\/2023\/01\/dekalb-voter-registration-and-elections-receives-2-million-excellence-grant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">accepted<\/a>\u00a0a $2 million grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL). Launched last year, the Alliance is an $80 million\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/01\/20\/inside-democrats-newest-election-takeover-scheme-report-unmasks-dark-money-group-youve-probably-never-heard-of\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">venture<\/a>\u00a0by left-wing nonprofits\u00a0to \u201csystematically influence every aspect of election administration\u201d and advance Democrat-backed voting policies in local election offices,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.honestelections.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/HEP_Locke_Alliance-for-Election-Excellence-Report-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a>\u00a0to the Honest Elections Project.<\/p>\n<p>While Georgia Republicans\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.legis.ga.gov\/api\/legislation\/document\/20212022\/201498\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed a law<\/a>\u00a0in March 2021 banning the private funding of local election offices, DeKalb officials used a loophole in the statute to justify accepting the grant from the Alliance. Instead of having their election office accept the funds, DeKalb officials had the county\u2019s finance department apply for the grant. As Democrat and DeKalb Board of Registration and Elections Chair Dele Lowman Smith\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/decaturish.com\/2023\/01\/dekalb-voter-registration-and-elections-receives-2-million-excellence-grant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admitted<\/a>, this was done \u201csince election offices are not allowed to receive grants directly.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Obtained via an open records request, the emails reviewed by The Federalist show DeKalb officials attempting to acquire private funds from the Alliance nearly a year before the county revealed its membership with the coalition to the public. According to the records, DeKalb\u2019s deputy finance director Preston Stephens received an email on April 12, 2022, from CTCL announcing the launch of the Alliance. Stephens ultimately received an application to join the coalition nearly a month later on May 4. <\/p>\n<p>The initial communications between DeKalb County and CTCL indicate that Stephens served as a primary contact for the nonprofit, with emails dating back several years. Ahead of the Jan. 5, 2021, Georgia Senate runoff election, for example, Stephens submitted a \u201cfunding request\u201d to CTCL on Dec. 24, 2020, for \u201c\u2018On\u2010the\u2010Ground Tech Support\u2019 to be utilized by [the DeKalb County] Voter Registration &#038; Elections\u201d board. Stephens would continue to receive newsletter emails from CTCL well into September and October 2021 \u2014 several months after Georgia passed its ban on private election funding.<\/p>\n<p>During the 2020 election, groups like CTCL received\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.techandciviclife.org\/100m\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hundreds of millions of dollars<\/a>\u00a0from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. These \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/10\/12\/the-2020-election-wasnt-stolen-it-was-bought-by-mark-zuckerberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Zuckbucks<\/a>\u201d 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 towards Democrat-majority counties, essentially making it a massive, privately-funded Democrat get-out-the-vote operation.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalresearch.org\/article\/shining-a-light-on-zuck-bucks-in-key-states\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Capital Research Center<\/a>, Georgia received $45 million from CTCL, with more than 94 percent ($42.4 million) of such funds going towards the 17 counties won by Joe Biden. DeKalb County received the second largest grant per capita, beaten only by nearby Clayton County.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the 2024 elections, the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence \u2014 of which CTCL is a key partner \u2014 is attempting to replicate a similar strategy to that of 2020. In a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.honestelections.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/HEP_Locke_Alliance-for-Election-Excellence-Report-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent report<\/a>, the Honest Elections Project and the John Locke Foundation revealed how the Alliance seeks to provide election offices \u201cscholarships\u201d to cover membership costs, which can then be \u201cconverted into \u2018credits\u2019 that member offices can use to buy services from CTCL and other Alliance partners.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>DeKalb Coordination with CTCL<\/h2>\n<p>After Stephens received the Alliance application on May 4, 2022, DeKalb County Chief Operating Officer Zachary Williams sent an email to CTCL later that same morning wanting to \u201cdiscuss any plans\u201d the nonprofit \u201cmay have on offering Grants for the upcoming elections.\u201d CTCL responded that afternoon, connecting Williams with the group\u2019s director of government services, Whitney May, who appears to have spoken with Williams on the morning of May 6, 2022.<\/p>\n<p>In an email sent to Williams later that same morning, May provided a link to the Alliance\u2019s website, while noting how \u201c[e]very election department in the country is invited to apply to be a Center for Election Excellence.\u201d Stephens submitted DeKalb\u2019s application to become an Alliance member to CTCL less than a week later on May 12. <\/p>\n<p>Throughout June 2022, Stephens sent multiple emails to May inquiring about the status of DeKalb\u2019s Alliance application. In her response, May informed Stephens it was still under review. Correspondence between DeKalb officials and CTCL continued into July 2022, when May sent a Zoom meeting scheduled for July 20 to Stephens, Williams, Lowman Smith, and Keisha Smith, the executive director of DeKalb\u2019s elections board. Emails indicate that at least Williams and Lowman Smith attempted to join the call. <\/p>\n<p>Later that same day, Stephens sent May a PowerPoint presentation developed by Keisha Smith, which \u201cprovides additional programmatic data, metrics, and comparative data of the DeKalb County Voter Registration &#038; Elections Office.\u201d Included in the presentation is a slide detailing the impacts of Georgia\u2019s private funding ban on election practices such as absentee voting and voter ID. <\/p>\n<p>Over the next several months, discussions between DeKalb officials and CTCL primarily centered on the legality of the county\u2019s potential Alliance membership. On Sept. 1, 2022, May notified Stephens and Keisha Smith that CTCL was working with its legal team to \u201censure \u2026 compliance with Georgia state law.\u201d After the 2022 midterms, Alliance representative Sophie Lehman followed up on Nov. 22, informing Stephens and Keisha Smith that CTCL was \u201cmeeting with Alliance partners and [its] expert legal team to design a membership structure so jurisdictions from across the country can participate in the program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be clear, this is a pivot from our original vision that would have offered Alliance programming for free,\u201d Lehman wrote. <\/p>\n<p>Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/15\/records-missouri-county-used-taxpayer-money-to-join-democrats-private-election-takeover-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">previously told<\/a> The Federalist that CTCL shifted its \u201coriginal model to a fee-based membership model\u201d as a way of skirting existing \u201cZuckbucks\u201d bans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor jurisdictions that are permitted to receive grants, those fees are effectively waived. But jurisdictions that cannot receive private grants can still buy their way in for a relatively small sum, allowing the Alliance to spread its influence even in states where lawmakers have tried to prevent it,\u201d Snead said.<\/p>\n<h2>DeKalb County Joins the Alliance<\/h2>\n<p>On Dec. 13, 2022, Lehman informed Stephens, Williams, and Keisha Smith that DeKalb County had been designated as \u201ca finalist in the inaugural cohort of Centers for Election Excellence\u201d and provided a list of \u201cnext steps\u201d for the county to take to become an Alliance member. <\/p>\n<p>According to the Alliance membership agreement, counties are given the option of joining the coalition as a basic or premium member, costing $1,600 or $4,800 a year, respectively. Under a basic membership agreement, participating counties are offered access to \u201ca selection of off-the-shelf, publicly-accessible election administration resources, document templates, and training materials,\u201d and \u201ccenter-specific coaching and consulting from select Alliance partners, in the form of a $800 credit towards the fair market value of Alliance partners\u2019 hourly consulting services,\u201d among other services.<\/p>\n<p>Premium members are offered similar services, but are granted $3,040 in credit and \u201cadditional multi-center group coaching and consulting sessions hosted by select Alliance partners on an hourly basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Lowman Smith and Keisha Smith initially appeared to express concern about the \u201cnew direction\u201d of the Alliance, Stephens notified Lehman on Jan. 3 that DeKalb County would be subscribing as a premium member. The following day, Lehman sent Stephens the county\u2019s Alliance grant agreement, which would provide DeKalb $2 million in funding from CTCL over the course of 2023. In her correspondence, Lehman noted how the grant agreement is separate from the membership agreement and that DeKalb\u2019s \u201celigibility to receive a grant isn\u2019t contingent on [its] Alliance membership, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stephens did not respond to The Federalist\u2019s request for comment on whether DeKalb County used taxpayer money to pay the Alliance membership fee.<\/p>\n<p>Several high-ranking DeKalb officials \u2014 none of whom included county election officials \u2014 signed both agreements on Jan. 24. The county\u2019s Alliance membership and the $2 million CTCL grant would be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dekalbcountyga.gov\/news\/dekalb-county-voter-registration-elections-designated-center-election-excellence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> more than a week later following Keisha Smith\u2019s collaboration with CTCL on a press release regarding the matter. As The Federalist <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/02\/21\/how-georgia-became-democrats-test-site-for-their-2024-private-takeover-of-election-offices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">previously reported<\/a>, the county\u2019s Alliance grant application appears to have been kept hidden from DeKalb\u2019s Republican elections board members.<\/p>\n<p>An email chain from Jan. 31 also indicates that Keisha Smith, Lowman Smith, and Julietta Henry, the deputy director of DeKalb\u2019s elections board, attended \u201cThe DeBrief,\u201d a three-day \u201cinaugural\u201d event for the Alliance designed \u201cfor election officials and election experts to come together to distill key lessons learned from the 2022 election cycle and to plan for the years ahead.\u201d The event was held in Chicago from Feb. 2-4. <\/p>\n<p>Keisha Smith did not respond to The Federalist\u2019s request for comment on whether DeKalb County used taxpayer money to pay for expenses related to her, Lowman Smith, and Henry\u2019s February trip to Chicago.<\/p>\n<h2>Where Things Stand Today<\/h2>\n<p>After DeKalb County announced its Alliance membership and $2 million CTCL grant earlier this year, Georgia Republicans introduced legislation (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.legis.ga.gov\/legislation\/64653\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SB 222<\/a>) designed to tighten the language in the state\u2019s \u201cZuckbucks\u201d ban to prevent counties from accepting or utilizing private money for the purposes of conducting elections. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/30\/a-bill-banning-zuckbucks-2-0-in-georgia-elections-is-headed-to-gov-brian-kemps-desk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Passed<\/a> by the GOP-controlled House and Senate last week, the bill now awaits a signature from Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is evident from these documents that senior DeKalb County executives and election office leadership conspired with\u00a0CTCL\u00a0to violate Georgia\u2019s Election Integrity Act of 2021 (SB202),\u201d Marci McCarthy, chair of the DeKalb County GOP, told The Federalist. \u201cWhile wishing to remain anonymous in their grant application and over a period of 18 months, high ranking DeKalb County officials shared proprietary election office information to include budgets and elections office operations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Georgia\u2019s state election board has since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/zuckerberg-funded-group-violated-georgia-law-with-2m-for-elections-board-watchdog.print\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched<\/a> an investigation into DeKalb County\u2019s Alliance membership and acceptance of CTCL grant money.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>   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<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A series of communication records obtained by The Federalist reveal how high-ranking DeKalb County officials worked behind the scenes to skirt Georgia law by accepting grant money from a coalition of left-wing nonprofits designed to influence election operations in a manner election integrity advocates say benefit Democrats. In February, DeKalb County \u2014 one of Georgia\u2019s\u00a0most<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1912168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[17905,3662,5130,19609,6571,4543,4977,6547,5129,4755,3638,23712],"class_list":["post-1912167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-acquire","tag-county","tag-dark","tag-dekalb","tag-elections","tag-funds","tag-georgia","tag-law","tag-left-wing","tag-money","tag-officials","tag-skirted"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1912167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1912168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1912167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1912167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1912167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}