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A Wisconsin judge ruled Wednesday that it is legal for a private group funded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to help Madison run the 2020 election.
Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke said state law does not prohibit cities from accepting private funds to help hold elections. He also said that no community that applied for money from the Zuckerberg-funded group The Center for Tech and Civic Life had been turned down, and he didn’t think it unfairly benefited Democrats.
Plaintiffs suing for the so-called “Zuck Bucks” highlighted the fact that the money went to Madison and four other Democratic strongholds – Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and Green Bay – that elected President Biden over Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
“There is nothing on record to suggest that CTCL money was used to disadvantage certain populations over others,” Judge Ehlke said in an oral comment from the bench, according to the Associated Press.
Mr. Biden won Wisconsin by less than 21,000 votes, and the debate over private Zuckerberg funding has fueled claims by Mr. Trump and conservatives that election fraud is corrupting the 2020 contests.
The courts made a number of election-related changes during the Trump-driven debate about the process and results.
The Madison lawsuit was filed by Erick Kaardal, former secretary and treasurer of the Minnesota Republican Party. He is the attorney for the conservative Thomas More Society, based in Chicago.
Cases involving other Wisconsin cities that received money from Zuckerberg are still pending.
Wisconsin’s Republican legislature recently passed a bill that makes it illegal to use private money to run elections, despite Democratic Government Tony Evers’ veto.
Judge Ehlke said the bill only supports the justification for its existence.
“Obviously, the legislature introduced this bill because nothing in the current Wisconsin law prohibits these things,” he said.
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