A bill was signed into law banning Pennsylvania public officials from receiving money from third-party entities for election-related activities.
This means, “Zuckbucks” and nongovernmental entities won’t be able to give financial support to influence the midterm elections. Pennsylvania is the latest state to ban it.
The legislation (SB 982) states that Pennsylvania’s public officials “may not solicit, apply for, enter into a contract for or receive or expend gifts, donations, grants or funding from any individual, business, organization, trust, foundation, or any nongovernmental entity for the registration of voters or the preparation, administration or conducting of an election in [the] Commonwealth.”
State Sen. Lisa Baker said in a statement:
“We believe reform begins with prohibiting private groups from funding election administration. Voting is among our basic rights, and the responsibility for properly running and funding elections is vested in government.”
“No matter who on the outside is contributing, no matter their expressed motivations, millions of dollars coming in from national figures or organizations naturally raises suspicions of hidden agendas,” she added.
The state’s Republican majority passed the legislature and signed into law by Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday. Additionally, counties may now apply for election integrity grants for the administration of elections.
Public Interest Legal referred to Zuckbucks as “bribes to election officials.”
“We applaud Pennsylvania for banning these funds and the private funding of elections” they shared on Twitter.
Zuckbucks are essentially bribes to election officials!
We applaud Pennsylvania for banning these funds and the private funding of elections!
Learn more about Zuckbucks and how they influenced the 2020 election: https://t.co/CKk6gnMBzj pic.twitter.com/s6dWOpHDpq
— PublicInterestLegal (@PILFoundation) July 14, 2022
100 Percent Fedup explained it further:
In 2020, a Mark Zuckerberg-funded non-profit was used by the Facebook founder to funnel upwards of $400 million into battleground states to alter the results of the elections in favor of Democrats. Pennsylvania Democrats alone gained $25 million in “Zuckbucks.” This influenced the election in favor of Joe Biden.
Pennsylvania was not the only state to be flooded by shady private money. With Pennsylvania’s latest legislation on the matter of election integrity, 22 states have now passed laws against “Zuckbucks” and other nongovernmental election money. Six other states have had similar legislation vetoed by Democrat governors.
The states which have taken steps to secure elections against private interests are:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kansas (despite an attempted veto by Democrat governor Laura Kelly)
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania (despite the first attempt being vetoed)
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Other states such as Wyoming, Michigan, and Wisconsin have had attempts vetoed.
The move also hopes to provide stronger accountability and election integrity following concerns after the 2020 election.
The new moves make Pennsylvania the second state to enact such a law, leading the way in election integrity changes.
Source: 100percentfedup
