Wisconsin voters will decide next Tuesday whether private money should be allowed to help fund public elections.
- Private money helping to pay for public elections will be the topic of a ballot question next Tuesday in Wisconsin
- State Republicans voted to put the question on the ballot, without a single supporting vote from a Democrat
- In 2020, a group called the Center for Technology and Civic Life offered grants to elections departments around the country, with some local governments in northeast Wisconsin receiving the grants
(The following is a transcript of the broadcast story.)
Should private money be allowed to help pay for public elections?
That's the question Wisconsin voters will decide next Tuesday in a statewide referendum.
State Republicans voted to put the question on the ballot, without a single supporting vote from a Democrat.
Back in 2020, a group called the Center for Technology and Civic Life, or CTCL, offered grants to elections departments around the country.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort.
According to a tax filing from CTCL, between February 2020 and the end of January 2021, local governments around northeast Wisconsin received the grants "to support the safe administration of public elections during the COVID-19 pandemic."
The minimum [grant] amount was $5,000, which cities like Chilton received.
Chilton's mayor told me over the phone that he would like the city to be able to receive that kind of private money in the future.
Green Bay received about $1.2 million.
Appleton received $18,000.
Fond du Lac received $47,000.
We reached out to the mayor's office or city leadership in those cities, and we either didn't hear back or there was no comment for this story.
According to CTCL, no verified local government that asked for the money was turned down.
Whether or not local governments will be able to receive money like that in future, is up to Wisconsin voters next Tuesday.
