NEW: MARK ZUCKERBERG gave $250M to help local governments administer elections during Covid-19.
But a TRUMP-allied group is suing to block the money from cities in four swing states, arguing they "have demographics with overwhelmingly progressive voters." nytimes.com/2020/09/25/us/…
The lawyers trying to block Democratic cities in Minnesota & Wisconsin from receiving private grants to help administer their elections say it's not about partisan politics.
But they are the same ones who tried to get @kanyewest on the ballot in Wisconsin documentcloud.org/documents/7217…
The group trying to block private $ from elections in Dem cities, @ThomasMoreSoc, includes TRUMP atty @JennaEllisEsq (tho she doesn't seem to be involved in these suits).
The group had sued to overturn Covid rules (decried by TRUMP) restricting churches. nytimes.com/2020/04/29/us/…
The argument against the ZUCKERBERG grants is that cities should not accept private $ to administer federal elections.
A lawyer on the suit warned of a future where "1 group of billionaires will own this city, & 1 group of billionaires will own that city" nytimes.com/2020/09/25/us/…
An argument for the ZUCKERBERG grants is that the federal government has appropriated only $400M of the $4B in estimated increased costs for state & local governments to administer elections amid Covid-19.
So those governments need to find the $ somewhere brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
WORTH WATCHING: Private efforts to fund local election administration appear to be expanding, with ARNOLD @Schwarzenegger announcing this week that he will provide grants through @GovArnoldUSC to reopen local polling places, largely in the South. pollingaccessgrants.org
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