(Alexandria, VA) – March 30, 2021: The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) today released a research brief detailing the $36 million of private money spent in Texas during the 2020 election by the Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) funded by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. This private money started the process of turning Texas toward procedures outside of the normal statutory framework for running elections.

Texas counties were given money to help shift voting to the mail and away from traditional procedures in Texas law. The large blue leaning counties received huge sums to transform their elections while smaller red counties did not receive anything close. A break down of the $36 million by county is below.

ZuckBucks affected roughly 74 percent of Texas residents by total population with grants given to 115 counties. If Texas’ election was limited only to those counties receiving the private funds, Joe Biden would have bested Donald Trump by roughly 270,000 votes. In November 2020, Texas performed two kinds of elections. While the majority of counties (just 26% of state population) stuck to established/publicly budgeted procedures, the rest took Silicon Valley money in return for preferred administrative practices.

 “Private parties cannot be allowed to pay for preferred modes of elections in Texas or anywhere else,” said PILF President J. Christian Adams. “Election administration is the most fundamental function of local and state government and must be funded accordingly, full stop.”

Access the full research brief, here.

Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections.

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