Buffalo Ledger

In Erie, where voting officials received funding from a Mark Zuckerberg-related organization, Democrat support rose 24% from 2016 to 2020.

In 2020, Joe Biden secured 56% of 469,536 votes, compared to the 51% earned by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Support for Trump increased in Erie 10.9% in 2020.

Erie was one of 35 New York areas where voting officials received money from the progressive Centre for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL). A $350 million donation from Facebook founder Zuckerberg and his wife provided funding for the grants.

Grants from the organization, ranging from $5,000 to $19 million, were given to voting officials in exchange for specific conditions being followed. This included strategically targeting voters, creating ballots and developing what are known as “cure letters” to correct ballots at risk of being thrown out for discrepancies in signatures.

Democrat support across New York areas that received funding from the CTCL rose 17.9% in 2020 from 2016.

Such support rose 369.4% in New York areas that didn’t receive any funding from the CTCL.

The Republican Party earned 10.9% more votes in New York districts assisted by the CTCL, compared to 128.8% in counties without similar funding.

The influx of private money on such a large scale was criticized throughout the contentious 2020 election.

The CTCL was sued by Louisiana’s Attorney General in October 2021 “to prevent the injection of unregulated private money...and protect the integrity of elections in the State.” The lawsuit wasn’t allowed to proceed by a State judge.

Criticism of the CTCL also stemmed from favoring “predominantly Democratic counties” and even gave them a headstart to apply for funding, according to emails obtained through Right-to-Know requests.

“Mark Zuckerberg is providing nearly as much money to this year’s election administration as the federal government,” Phil Kline with the Amistad Project said in a late October 2020 press release.

The US government, in the run-up to the 2020 election, was criticized for underfunding the electoral process at a critical time.

Area	Received CTCL Funding?	% Change in Republican Support	% Change in Democratic Support
Allegany	Yes	12.9	23.9
Broome	Yes	7	21.2
Cattaraugus	Yes	12.5	25.1
Cayuga	Yes	12.9	21
Chautauqua	Yes	10.3	20.9
Chemung	Yes	9.1	21.4
Clinton	Yes	14.3	21.9
Columbia	Yes	5.1	33.4
Delaware	Yes	12.1	38
Dutchess	Yes	8.2	32
Erie	Yes	4.9	24
Genesee	Yes	11.6	25.8
Jefferson	Yes	17.8	25.3
Nassau	Yes	11.9	19.4
New York	Yes	31.2	4.1
Onondaga	Yes	9.6	23.7
Ontario	Yes	10.6	29.3
Oswego	Yes	16.1	23.7
Putnam	Yes	8.4	28.9
Rensselaer	Yes	8.2	25.2
Rockland	Yes	20.2	9.3
Saratoga	Yes	12.3	34.5
Schenectady	Yes	6.2	25.8
Schoharie	Yes	12.1	26.1
Schuyler	Yes	11.3	26.3
St. Lawrence	Yes	23.4	17.4
Steuben	Yes	9.9	26.1
Suffolk	Yes	8.8	25.4
Sullivan	Yes	17	23.2
Tioga	Yes	11.5	28
Tompkins	Yes	7	16.4
Ulster	Yes	6.7	30
Warren	Yes	12.4	34.8
Westchester	Yes	10.3	14.5
Yates	Yes	9.7	15.3
Albany County	No	-3.6	9.9
Chenango County	No	28.5	155.6
Cortland County	No	27.8	-2.3
Essex County	No	14.2	12.9
Franklin County	No	72.1	3.5
Fulton County	No	25.3	40.2
Greene County	No	-84.3	-84.7
Hamilton County	No	751.3	897.3
Herkimer County	No	43.8	106.3
Lewis County	No	127.2	345.6
Livingston County	No	635.6	1,896.9
Madison County	No	-27.4	-34.6
Monroe County	No	123.4	102
Montgomery County	No	336.1	562.9
Niagara County	No	-50.6	-23
Oneida County	No	42.1	139.4
Orange County	No	-82.5	-82
Orleans County	No	142	419.8
Otsego County	No	384.7	585.6
Seneca County	No	41.5	408.7
Washington County	No	356.9	3,612.8
Wayne County	No	701.1	4,418.6
Wyoming County	No	1,488.2	13,300.4