Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan donate $100 million more to U.S. election infrastructure
Facebook Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, said on Tuesday that they will donate an additional $100 million to support election officials and fund infrastructure for the U.S. election in November.
“We’ve gotten a far greater response than we expected from election officials needing funding for voting infrastructure, so today we’re committing an additional $100 million to the Center for Tech and Civic Life to make sure that every jurisdiction that needs funding to help people vote safely can get it,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.
“So far, more than 2,100 local election jurisdictions have submitted applications to CTCL for support,” he wrote.
CTCL is a Chicago-based nonprofit that, according to its website, is “working to foster a more informed and engaged democracy, and helping to modernize U.S. elections.”
The pair previously donated $300 million to help the U.S. election process deal with challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, by funding voting equipment and protective equipment for poll workers
In the post, Zuckerberg also hit back at lawsuits trying to block the use of the funds: “Since our initial donation, there have been multiple lawsuits filed in an attempt to block these funds from being used, based on claims that the organizations receiving donations have a partisan agenda. That’s false,” he said.
The Thomas More Society, a conservative legal group that is representing clients and funding lawsuits filed in multiple states, in a statement on Tuesday doubled down on its allegation that the CTCL seeks to turn out Democrats, saying Zuckerberg’s announcement was “further proof that private funds from billionaires must not be allowed to dictate how states manage elections.”
Zuckerberg and Chan’s election infrastructure donations come as Facebook faces both regulatory scrutiny from Washington and pressure from lawmakers to protect against misinformation and other election-related abuses on its platform.
Source: reuters.com
Trending News
Feeding grants'll be paid directly to school heads in my next gov’t – Mahama promises
11:02Francis-Xavier Sosu rallies support to aid Madina market fire victims
19:30Man allegedly shoots wife in Adaklu
15:01NDC Youth Wing expresses solidarity with nurses and midwives
10:08Running mate: Ashanti NPP youth organisers distance themselves from Napo’s bid
10:11‘I can only thank you for your dumsor patience’ – Akufo-Addo to Ghanaians
14:50I'll ban all mining in water bodies, forest reserves – Kyerematen
12:042024 polls: 'Bawumia in pole position to take over from me' – Akufo-Addo
03:45Digitalisation has cut demand for sex from women for public services – Bawumia
11:17FGBMFI to honour Speaker Bagbin with distinguished Footprints Award for political leadership
09:11