Politics
Progressives Spend $1 Billion to Infl uence Elections
GOP flat-footed as leftist groups seize control of voter registrations and turnout.
D BY STEVE MILLER | REALCLEARINVESTIGATIONS
emocrats and their pro- gressive allies are vastly expanding their unprec- edented eff orts, begun in
2020, to use private money to infl uence and run public elections. Supported by groups with more
than $1 billion at their disposal, these partisan groups are working with state and local boards to infl uence functions that have long been the domain of gov- ernment or political parties. Registering and turning out vot-
ers — once handled by political par- ties — and design of election offi ce websites and mail-in ballots are being handed over to nonprofi ts staff ed by progressive activists that include for- mer Democratic Party advocates, orga- nized labor adherents, and community organizers.
Republicans are fighting such
eff orts, passing legislation in 24 states since 2020 curbing private fi nancing
of elections. But the GOP does not have a com-
parable, boots-on-the-ground eff ort to infl uence election boards and workers, and the private funding bans haven’t proved absolute in some states. “There is a cottage industry of non-
profi ts in public policy and in the politi- cal arena trying to shape the future of immigration or education or any other topic,” said Kimberly Fiorello, a for- mer Republican state representative in Connecticut. “Increasingly, they are about elec-
tions, election administration, election technology, ballot design — and all with big funding. “These groups seem innocuous, but
they aren’t innocuous because they are funded by one political side.” Apart from legislative curbs on pri-
vate fi nancing of elections, Republicans so far have not shown any interest in countering their opponents’ strategies.
In the past two years, Democrat
interests have pushed back against voter ID and sought same-day voter registration, prolonged early voting, and a wide expansion of mail-in voting. Among the endeavors:
The training of election offi cials by the progressive Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) and like-minded orga- nizations promising “nonpartisan” learning opportunities. Such training used to be the primary domain of the Election Center, a 1,500-mem- ber trade group that includes election offi cials and administrators. CTCL eff orts setting up interviews between elections offi ces and favor- able media outlets, and placing opin- ion pieces in local newspapers under the bylines of election offi cials using a pre-written template lamenting the lack of public funding for elections. Lobbying at the state and federal level. New Venture, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and the Hopewell Fund spent a combined $6.8 million on lob- bying Congress last year, according to Open Secrets. The two parties and their allies have
MAY 2023 | NEWSMAX 47
MONEY/AFRICA STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK / HAND/MASTER1305/SHUTTERSTOCK
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