{"id":2213857,"date":"2024-04-05T14:43:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T18:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/madison-spent-zuckbucks-2-0-funds-right-before-wisconsinites-outlawed-them\/"},"modified":"2024-04-05T14:43:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T18:43:34","slug":"madison-spent-zuckbucks-2-0-funds-right-before-wisconsinites-outlawed-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/madison-spent-zuckbucks-2-0-funds-right-before-wisconsinites-outlawed-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Madison Utilized &#8216;Zuckbucks 2.0&#8217; Funds Just Before Wisconsinites Banned Them"},"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\">20<\/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%2Fmadison-spent-zuckbucks-2-0-funds-right-before-wisconsinites-outlawed-them%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=2213857&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--><p>A Madison, Wisconsin official acknowledged \u2063spending a $1.5 million \u201cZuckbucks\u201d grant based on a potential ban voters later approved. \u200bThe grant was used to purchase a\u200b machine for absentee ballot \u200bprocessing. This grant stemmed from CTCL funds received via Meta CEO Zuckerberg \u200dand aimed to influence election administration practices,\u200d particularly \u2063benefiting Democrat-majority counties.\u2063 A Madison, Wisconsin official admitted to\u2062 utilizing \u200ca $1.5 million &#8220;Zuckbucks&#8221; \u2063grant, anticipating a subsequent voter-approved ban. The funds were\u200c allocated to \u200cacquire a machine for processing absentee ballots.\u2063 Originating from CTCL funds facilitated by Meta CEO Zuckerberg, the grant was\u200d intended to impact election administration practices, with a focus on benefiting Democrat-majority counties.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<figure>                         <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A Madison, Wisconsin official admitted the city\u2019s recent decision to spend a $1.5 million \u201cZuckbucks\u201d grant was based on the chance that voters would pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting its use. Wisconsinites <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/02\/voters-prohibit-zuckbucks-style-private-funding-and-staff-from-wisconsin-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">approved<\/a> such a measure during the state\u2019s primary elections on Tuesday. <\/p>\n<p>Madison City Attorney Mike Haas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmj4.com\/news\/state-capitol\/madison-official-says-city-spent-elections-grants-weeks-before-voters-banned-them\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revealed<\/a> to a local NBC affiliate on Wednesday that the city \u2014 which sits in a county Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/election\/2020\/results\/state\/wisconsin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">won<\/a> by more than 52 points during the 2020 election \u2014 \u201cused most of the nearly $1.5 million in private grant money at its disposal to purchase a new machine to process absentee ballots.\u201d Madison originally <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/SbVzE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">accepted<\/a> the monies from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/center-for-tech-and-civic-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL)<\/a> in January 2023 for \u201cplanning and operating safe and secure elections,\u201d according to the Wisconsin State Journal.<\/p>\n<p>During the 2020 election season, CTCL received <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techandciviclife.org\/100m\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hundreds of millions of dollars<\/a> from 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.<\/p>\n<p>Among other things, these funds went to help expand unsupervised election protocols including 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.<\/p>\n<p>Madison received the $1.5 million grant as part of its <a href=\"https:\/\/electionexcellence.org\/our-community\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">membership<\/a> with the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/u-s-alliance-for-election-excellence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence<\/a>, a five-year, $80 million <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> launched by CTCL in 2022 that\u2019s designed to \u201csystematically influence every aspect of election administration\u201d and advance Democrat-backed voting practices in local election offices.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with the NBC outlet, Haas confirmed that a constitutional amendment proposal appearing on the state\u2019s April 2 primary ballot \u2014 which bars the acceptance and use of private monies to administer elections \u2014 factored into the city\u2019s decision to spend the CTCL funds in the weeks before Tuesday\u2019s election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo eliminate any questions about whether or not it could be spent in that way, the city made sure that the funds were spent before the election,\u201d Haas said. <\/p>\n<p>The measure ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/02\/voters-prohibit-zuckbucks-style-private-funding-and-staff-from-wisconsin-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed<\/a>, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/04\/02\/us\/elections\/results-wisconsin-question-1-prohibit-private-funding-of-elections.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">preliminary results<\/a> showing 54.4 percent of electors voting \u201cyes\u201d and 45.6 percent voting \u201cno.\u201d Dane County \u2014 which includes Madison \u2014 was one of the few localities to disapprove of the measure, with 69 percent of electors opposing and 31 percent supporting. <\/p>\n<p>During the 2020 election cycle, nine of CTCL\u2019s 10 \u201clargest per capita grants\u201d in Wisconsin \u201cwent to cities which Biden won,\u201d 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>. Madison received the fifth most per capita, behind Racine, Green Bay, Kenosha, and Milwaukee, respectively. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served 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<div data-image data-amount=\"5\">\n<h2>Popular<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Madison, Wisconsin official conceded that the city&#8217;s use of a $1.5 million &#8220;Zuckbucks&#8221; grant hinged on the possibility of a constitutional ban, which Wisconsinites approved during Tuesday&#8217;s primary elections. City Attorney Mike Haas disclosed this to a local NBC affiliate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2213858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/800px-Election_Day_2020_50564532317.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2213857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/800px-Election_Day_2020_50564532317.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213857","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\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2213858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}