A group directly linked to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated nearly $5.6 million to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office last year.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (pictured above, left) spent that money on the 2020 presidential election.
That Zuckerberg-linked group, the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), donated the money. With it, Raffensperger and his staff carried out a variety of tasks, according to the CEIR website.
The Georgia Star News contacted Raffensperger’s communications staff Monday for comment. Raffensperger Spokesman Walter Jones, in his emailed response, took a dig at this publication.
“Any grant or funding source, as allowed by Georgia law, has enabled this and local elections offices to combat disinformation similar to recent articles published by this outlet that undermine the confidence of Georgia voters,” Jones said referring to the events of last year.
The Georgia Star News did not debut until November 2020, and only after Election Day.
As Breitbart News reported, Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated $419 million to two non-profit groups that provided controversial private funding to state, county, and municipal governments for election administration in the 2020 presidential election. $350 million of Zuckerberg’s money went to the Center for Technology and Civic Life, which spent at least $24 million in key Georgia counties. $69 million went to the Center for Election Innovation and Research, which privately funded state level operations through Secretary of State offices in 23 states, including $13 million in Pennsylvania, $11 million in Michigan, $5.6 million in Georgia, and $4 million in Arizona – four key battleground states that U.S. President Joe Biden narrowly won.
Jones did not specifically describe how Raffensperger spent the money — but the CEIR website did.
“Georgia used CEIR grant funds in both the November general election and January runoff election to encourage voters to apply for a ballot online,” the CEIR website said.
“This approach sped up the process for both voters and election officials while also making it easier to track application status. Georgia also used the funds to counteract disinformation, issuing public service announcements warning voters of disinformation and encouraging them to report fraud to the Secretary of State hotline.”
In a follow-up comment, Jones added, “Having the Secretary of State’s office accept this funding and distribute the benefits fairly around the state — rather than having donations go to the donor’s preferred county elections boards — was endorsed by the Republican legislature as part of SB 202.”
According to the CEIR website, group members initiated a Voter Education Grant Program “to provide nonpartisan, accurate, and official voting information to the public.” The website said the COVID-19 pandemic increased demand for this service.
“Due to the generous support of Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, CEIR awarded every state the entire amount each requested,” the CEIR website said.
“In total, we provided states nearly $65 million, which they used to bolster their voter education efforts in a variety of ways.”
Raffensperger announced the partnership with CEIR in a press release. The press release is undated. Members of Raffensperger’s staff presumably published it last year. In that press release, Raffensperger praised the CEIR staff as “the greatest minds that the country has to offer” and, because of that, he said Georgia could have a secure and reliable paper-ballot system.
CEIR Executive Director David Becker (pictured above, right) has a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of Berkeley in California. Becker also serves as CBS News’ election law expert, according to his LinkedIn page.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “David Becker” by David Becker.
[…] The Georgia Star News reported Tuesday, CEIR donated nearly $5.6 million to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office last year. Georgia […]
[…] office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is defending the payout of over $5 million from a group backed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to fund election infrastructure in the […]
[…] office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is defending the payout of over $5 million from a group backed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to fund election infrastructure in the […]
[…] office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is defending the payout of over $5 million from a group backed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to fund election infrastructure in the […]
[…] office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is defending the payout of over $5 million from a group backed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to fund election infrastructure in the […]
[…] office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is defending the payout of over $5 million from a group backed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to fund election infrastructure in the […]
This stinks to high heaven. And looks even worse. But it explains Raffensperger’s behavior and the fact that he doesn’t seem to care about Georgia voters and what they think of him.
Why is it that the people aren’t able to access voting machines that hold our votes. All recording of votes legally are to be saved for 22 months. Truth is being denied to legal voters that voted with identification as American citizens. Sepream court needs to rule that justification for our rights to question integrity of voting isn’t withheld.
69 year old FORMER Republican. I supported and campaigned for President Trump.
The cheating DemoRats were allowed to steal this presidential election with the assistance of the thieving RINOs elected as “Republicans.”
I will NEVER support local or GA politics again!
You lost me when you allowed the Presidency to be Stolen from the Votes of GA Voters.
At that point, you cared ZERO that the Presidency Votes were STOLEN due to the Chinese Electronic voting machines that were purchased and allowed to be used to steal our Presidential Election by elected “Republican” RINO Rats who were stuffing their pockets while stealing from GA Voting Taxpayers.
To add insult to injury, Georgians watched the shenanigans of Ruby and her crew in Fulton County. GA Politics is a laughing Joke that the entire World witnessed!
Prepare To Lose Every Election Until Rigged Elections Are Fixed. Get Rid Of Rigged Electronic Voting Machines, dishonest voting officials, and Get Rid of the RINO elected “Republicans” who made this theft possible.
If GA legislators want any credibility and any hope of re-election, they MUST Pass Election Reform Laws To Abolish all electronic voting machines, and incarcerate Each and Every Person who was involved in any aspect of GA Election Theft.
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[…] to the Georgia Star, Raffensperger issued a press release on this but we don’t know when because it wasn’t […]
[…] to the Georgia Star, Raffensperger issued a press release on this but we don’t know when because it wasn’t […]
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[…] When your office accepted $5.6 million from the Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Election Innovation and Research did you research […]
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Why aren’t these people in jail?
That is what I keep saying. We all know the election was rigged. IMO. If we allow this to happen we will become a communist country. Thank you Sidney for fighting for America. You had to be sent from heaven. These elected so called officials need to be tried for Treason and dealt with accordingly. These crooked politicians sold their souls to the highest bidder with know regard to our countries constitution or us.
What undermine the confidence of Georgia voters is when Brad Raffensperger’s accepts campaign donations from an organization who allows the organization of riots, police murders and insurrectionist from Antifa and Black Live Matter Terrorists, then suppresses free speech and ban the American people because of their conservative views against the attack on America. Neither State or Federal Government should accept ANY Corrupted Election funds from ANY CORPERATION OR BUSINESS. They were bought out.. You can not convenience me 5.5 Million Dollars did not taint this election. It also influences any future election because now Brad Raffensperger has become dependent on that money
[…] office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is defending the payout of over $5 million from a group backed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to fund election infrastructure in the […]
Raffey will be ousted from office in the next primary. Georgia voters have had enough from this hack.
He should be recalled.
The Sec’s of state in the other states are scrambling to cover up right now………..FOLLOW THIS MONEY (and the kickbacks) wherever it leads….
Yes.. FOLLOW THE MONEY OF Kemp, Ratsinkberger, the bespectacled liar, Sterling. Dont check their accounts, etc., check the accounts of their relatives, and acquaintences, thats usually where it goes, so it cant be found, also check offshore too. Thats what they are covering up. Otherwise, they wouldnt be obstructing at every turn. Ratstinkberger lied 7 times in his amicus brief, HE REALLY WANTS TO HIDE SOMETHING
Was anything that was done QUESTIONABLE?
Oh yes.
Was anything that was done DECEPTIVE?
Clearly.
Was anything done IMMORAL?
For anyone with morals, yep.
Is it clear that the 2020 elections were NOT “the safest and most secure ever”?
Only a fool would believe otherwise.
Is it credible that the 2020 elections were actually CORRUPTED?
Beyond reasonable doubt.
But
Was anything done specifically ILLEGAL?
Doesn’t seem so. They were VERY careful to keep it within the letter of the law every step of the way, while ABUSING the law to the point of accomplishing the opposite of the law’s intent. That’s the problem with the open, vague language in all the interconnected inscrutable state and federal laws. (Government isn’t the solution to our problems; by and large, the government IS the problem)
Nothing will happen here.
No charges filed.
No arrests made.
No trial of the perpetrators.
No convictions handed down.
No punishments levied.
And, just like that, the Republic which started with a BANG of righteous rebellion by brave men who risked all to fight against tyranny, disappeared with a whimper and not so much as a drop of blood shed through the self serving feckless bureaucrats we left in charge…
The patriots who founded this country would have hanged such men, and overturned such laws, as allowed us to reach this point.
Clearly we don’t deserve the country they have left us.
Well written words. I’m beginning to think the engine at work is much bigger than anyone can stop, (with an orderly, lawful, and civil approach). No courts will look at the evidence, all aspects of communication are refuted/deleted for all information that goes against their narrative.this is a rabbit hole that goes very deep and for any one of us to claim we know how dark and deep it is, well, we’re lying.
“But
Was anything done specifically ILLEGAL?
Doesn’t seem so.”
Wake up–evidence has been displayed on how the eleckt-shun was stolen.
It is no surprise main stream news cancels/blocks any talk of the theft. It is clear that many were, and are complicit.
The writing is on the wall. God will not be mocked by those responsible for the travesty.
see “Absolute Proof” by Mike Lindell, “Specific Proof” by Mike Lindell, use Rumble.com
also checkout https://frankspeech.com
Engine hoist and a burning torch. He’ll talk.
Save the gas, they will be talking soon enuf
Money buys traitors.
Right on Marcus!
All these people being killed all over the country every day and yet all these crooked folks go on about their business unscathed, where the hell is Karma when you need it.
And there it is
I imagine that he paid off all of the democrat people working the election and the security that kept the Republicans from verifying votes. This is ridiculous. How can you have elections when the swamp creatures are paying everyone off?
How much landed into his own pocket? Let’s find out!
I can’t wait to see this RAT go to prison!
Purty good payday for Riff Raff.
Q
He won’t. He will get primaried out then work for some liberal group and tell everyone how racist everyone is
Is this allowed in Georgia or ant State?
Follow the money trail and check his bank accounts and recent property purchases. His laundry stinks to high heaven and needs to come clean in the wash.
Please take note that Raffensberger SAID NOTHING about the narrative regarding Trump’s infamous phone call to him being inaccurate. The file was found in the trash on somebody’s computer and it cleared Trump of what these clowns INCLUDING Raffensberger had said previously. Certainly a dirty politician.
He covered the fraud. He allowed the audit to be of Cobb County, knowing all along it was Fulton County where the lion’s share of the fraud took place. Furthermore, the audit was just a count audit, counting the same fraudulent votes again. He will never allow a true forensic audit of Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Cobb counties. He knows Georgia was stolen.
Follow the money, it influenced the election operations. If we had an honest fbi none of this would have happened.
(1) I believe you folks need a spell-checker. The Rathskeller acronym is not “SOS” but “POS”.
(2) Is Zuck really married to a Chinese woman as is Mitch McConnell? Hey, if so, no sweat…just an interesting data point. At some point we will all drown in these “data points”.
Nice, Although I prefer anything with RAT-enspooger.
Zuckerturds wife’s parents are from China, she was born in MA, went to Harvard.
GA is run by CORRUPT Democrats and REPUBLICANS….Repukes are the WORST, the AG should have already arrested Zuckerturd but is a Trump hater so that won’t happen, however with enough pressure he will end up arresting RAT-enSPOOGER.
Get rid of this guy. DEMOCRATS are always liars. HE AND ABRAMS used this money to put drop boxes all over democrat districts, and only a few in other districts. THE MONEY WAS USED FOR DEMOCRAT RELATED USES. SOME Secretary of State he is. He also put in the voting systems, again, recommended by democrats. GET RID OF HIM, and check all of the monies, plus the dominion machines. HE IS DEFINITELY HIDING ALOT.
The more that comes out on this payoff by the dark cabal that took place during the Presidential election, the worse it sounds. When did states go up for sale with no regard to We the People!!
How is this corruption legal. RINOs are more evil than the Left. We are done with their blatant disregard for the people they are supposed to serve. They need to go!!
I beg to differ. RINO’s learned from the left and are still catching up.
I agree. A RINO is more disgusting and despicable than a AOC loving left of far lefter!!
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