Report: Zuckerberg grants violated Wisc. bribery laws

FPI / March 2, 2022

Millions of dollars in grant funds from Mark Zuckerberg that went exclusively to Democrat strongholds in Wisconsin were a violation of the state election code’s prohibition on bribery, according to a report submitted on Tuesday by a state-appointed special counsel to the Wisconsin Assembly.

Michael Gableman, a retired state Supreme Court justice, said the so-called "Zuck Bucks" violated Wisconsin Stat. § 12.11, which prohibits election bribery by providing it is illegal to offer anything of value to or for any person in order to induce any elector to go to the polls or vote.

Gableman's report said that Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg provided the funds which allowed the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) to offer nearly $9 million in “Zuck Bucks” to Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha and Green Bay counties. In exchange, the “Zuckerberg 5,” as the report called the counties, in effect, operated Democrat get-out-the-vote efforts, The Federalist reported.

Gableman said the Zuckerberg grant money targeted specific voters for special voting privileges, to the disadvantage of similarly situated voters located in other Wisconsin counties.

The report also detailed evidence that the Zuckerberg 5 counties allowed private groups working with the CTCL to “unlawfully administer aspects of the election,” including in one county where one organization was unlawfully embedded in local government election administration.

The funds also paid for illegal drop boxes to be placed in Democrat voting strongholds, Gableman's report said.

Gableman also reported that the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) illegally directed county clerks to ignore the state election code governing voting in nursing homes. In several nursing home locations throughout the state, 100 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in the 2020 election — an unheard of rate that included many ineligible voters.

Non-citizen and incapacitated citizens also remained listed on Wisconsin’s voting rolls, in violation of the law, according to the report. Because some non-citizens qualify for driver’s licenses, the law requires non-citizens’ names be removed from the master roll, but that was not done, according to the special counsel. Likewise, individuals declared incompetent must, by law, be removed from the master list, but again that did not occur.

Free Press International