GOP Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey enacted a law that prevents private funding for government elections in his state.
“With public election confidence in danger, it is clear our elections must be above reproach — and the sole purpose of government,” Ducey said.
Ducey’s law comes after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated $419 million to two nonprofit organizations, including the Center for Election Innovation and Research, that funded election management leading up to the 2020 elections. The money was slammed by conservatives and ended in lawsuits that said federal law prevents local officials from accepting private money for such programs.
Zuckerberg said at the time of the announcement that “many states and counties are strapped financially and trying to determine how to fund and staff operations that will let ballots be cast and counted in a prompt way.”
Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s Secretary of State, used $4.8 million from the funds for voting causes both before and after the November election.
Democrats in Arizona blamed the underfunding of election management on the GOP, with one DNC lawmaker saying the state was forced to accept donations from Zuckerberg.
“It is easy to turn billionaires into boogeymen. But we got ourselves into this spot,” state Senator Juan Mendez, a Tempe Democrat, said. “Our election administration is so underfunded that we have counties asking for money to do voter outreach.”
The bill succeeded along party lines in both the Arizona House and Senate, with the governor signing it into law on Friday.
Author: Blake Ambrose
These content links are provided by Content.ad. Both Content.ad and the web site upon which the links are displayed may receive compensation when readers click on these links. Some of the content you are redirected to may be sponsored content. View our privacy policy here.
To learn how you can use Content.ad to drive visitors to your content or add this service to your site, please contact us at [email protected].
Family-Friendly Content
Website owners select the type of content that appears in our units. However, if you would like to ensure that Content.ad always displays family-friendly content on this device, regardless of what site you are on, check the option below. Learn More
These content links are provided by Content.ad. Both Content.ad and the web site upon which the links are displayed may receive compensation when readers click on these links. Some of the content you are redirected to may be sponsored content. View our privacy policy here.
To learn how you can use Content.ad to drive visitors to your content or add this service to your site, please contact us at [email protected].
Family-Friendly Content
Website owners select the type of content that appears in our units. However, if you would like to ensure that Content.ad always displays family-friendly content on this device, regardless of what site you are on, check the option below. Learn More
