Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) signed an amendment Wednesday that prevents local Georgia governments and government employees from accepting donations or services for election administration purposes.
The Republican-backed amendment to an already existing law passed the Georgia House in late March by a margin of 100-69 before the state Senate sent the bill to Kemp’s desk with a 32-21 vote days later.
Senate Bill 222 establishes, “All costs and expenses related to conducting primaries, elections, runoffs, or other undertakings authorized or required by this chapter shall be paid from lawfully appropriated public funds.”
It prevents any “county or municipal government, government employee, or election official” from soliciting or accepting “a contribution, donation, service, or anything else of value for the purpose of conducting primaries or elections or in support of performing his or her duties under this chapter” from anyone.
A caveat to the law is that it does not apply to “the donation or use of locations for voting purposes, services provided by individuals without remuneration, or goods that have nominal value of less than $500.00.”
In a statement obtained in an email, Jason Snead, the executive director of Honest Elections Project Action, lauded Kemp for signing the bill and said that private funding of elections undermines election integrity.
Honest Elections Project Action applauds Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and the Georgia state legislature for further tightening the state’s prohibition on outside funding for election administration, prompted by the left-wing dark money funded Center for Tech and Civic Life attempting to evade state law to pump $2 million into DeKalb County.
The private funding of election administration ultimately sows distrust in election outcomes. States across the country should follow in Georgia’s footsteps by passing robust bans on private election administration funding.
The law comes as the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), which received hundreds of millions in “Zuckerbucks” from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, has flooded $45,013,990 in grants to Georgia, Capitol Research reports.
One area of focus in the lead-up to and after the 2020 election for the CTCL was DeKalb County. A month before the highly contentious general election between then-President Donald Trump and then-candidate Joe Biden, DeKalb County announced the CTCL provided it with a $4.7 million grant to help with election administration.
When the election went to a runoff, the CTCL contributed another $4.6 million grant to DeKalb County in December 2020.
“After a historic number of absentee and early voters in November, we are preparing ourselves for a record turnout for this runoff election. The entire world will be watching Georgia and I am confident DeKalb County will rise to the occasion,” said Democrat DeKalb County CEO Michale Thurman at the time.
A similar piece of legislation awaits signage from Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) in Montana.
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