How Big Tech Plans to Keep a Grip on Local Elections Amid Funding Bans

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says he has sworn off bankrolling local election administration, but other Big Tech executives are positioned to play a role in running future elections. 

The Center for Tech and Civic Life distributed $350 million in Zuckerberg-funded election grants to localities in 2020 to promote mail-in voting, drop boxes, and other projects. Now the center has launched the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence with six other nonprofits, to advise local officials across the country on how to run elections. 

The largest funder of the alliance’s $80 million, five-year initiative is The Audacious Project, financed largely by people connected with the Big Tech sector, including Microsoft and Amazon.